Blades of an Unlimited Sky
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: Shirou is more than some random orphan of the Fuyuki Fire, he's the next Decimo of the Vongola Familigia! And why does his mother insist on call him Tsuna? His life is about to become a lot more interesting as Reborn slowly tries to work out how to train the Magus Killer's adopted son. Is the underworld ready for a Sword with the Flames of the Sky?
1. Chapter 1

Tsunayoshi "Shirou" Sawada was a somewhat normal, if quiet kid. He had a mother who was generally an air head and didn't really notice things, a father who was never around, and an adopted father who died shortly before his thirteenth birthday. He had lost all his memories before the age of eight, and was only now edging to something close to normal.

When he was younger, there had been a major bullying problem, but that was mostly dealt with after his birth father finally tracked him down in Fuyuki.

He still preferred to be called Shirou, because from what he could tell, Tsunayoshi was a bit of a wimp who let the bullies walk all over him and didn't really do well in school.

Whereas 'Shirou' had quickly acquired the title as the School's "fake janitor" and had even befriended the strongest delinquent in his age group completely by accident.

Kyouya Hibari was rather scary to most, but for some reason he had a soft spot for Tsuna because he was helpful without being a 'herbivore' about it.

He suspected it had something to do with him ignoring Hibari's open threat to "bite him to death" when he went into the room to start repairing the air conditioning system while the other boy was taking a nap, and not even bothering to flinch when Hibari snuck up behind him with his tompa already drawn.

Tsuna had stared Hibari down in the eye, not even fazed by the open threat of violence (because honestly, Fuji-nee when she was openly hungry was far more terrifying) and had left the room without giving ground to the older boy once he was finished.

Ever since Kyouya had upgraded Tsuna's status around him from "herbivore" to "carnivore".

At the very least there was a modicum of respect from Hibari whenever he spoke to Tsuna.

That wasn't the only change in Tsuna since the fire, and his subsequent return to Namimori.

Ever since he came back to this town, there was a pervading sense of warmth in his body, like a low burning fire that had been kindled and remained burning. He had thought it was the training Kiritsugu had given him shortly before his death in magecraft, but now he wasn't so sure.

For one thing, his nose had started to pick up weird smells around certain people.

Hibari, for instance, had the weird scent of the wilds about him that clung with a pervading scent of wet. Almost like a mist, or possibly what the clouds themselves might smell like. Considering fog was really just clouds on ground level, he was mostly basing his assumption on that.

Fuji-nee, when she was really worked up and had her favorite sword out, smelled of ozone and fur.

Among other odd figures with the weird smell around them was a baseball nut by the name of Takeshi. He had the scent of freshly fallen rain and forged steel. Or the boxing kid with the younger sister in his class named Ryohei, who smelled of sun warmed leather and had a general warmth about him.

Sometimes, after practicing his limited magecraft he would catch the scent of fire and steel around him. He believed that to be what his own scent was.

Tsuna finished making his own bento for the day and headed to school.

His mother, Nana, had been pleasantly surprised with his sudden proficiency in cooking and household chores.

To be fair, it was either he learned how to cook or he had to explain to the fire department back in Fuyuki that Kiritsugu had burned down the kitchen, again. And the less said about the conflagrations Taiga produced when he tried to teach her how to cook, the better.

He still had no idea how the hell Fuji-nee managed to end up as the "faculty adviser" to the archery club _and_ the disciplinary committee.

Maybe it had something to do with her weird attitude towards Kyouya-san and the weird respect he had about her. At least it made his group of thugs _look_ legitimately like a club on paper, even if Taiga was the only teacher who didn't shit her pants around Kyouya when he was in a bad mood.

Or it could be that the first time he tried to disobey Taiga, she beat the crap out of him with her Tora Shinai and made him clean the club room he claimed as his own.

Kyouya _hated_ the fact she kicked his ass. Tsuna suspected the only reason he agreed to even remotely listen to her orders was because he wanted to fight her again.

Come to think of it, Kyouya was the only other person in Namimori besides Taiga who called him Shirou. Possibly because he heard Taiga call him by his adopted name when whining for food because she spent her check and her grandfather cut her off again. The woman was a black hole when it came to food, and she couldn't cook at all to save her life.

Hence why Tsuna had an iron hold over her. She needed him to provide food, and she was positively addicted to his cooking. So was Kyouya, when he asked (read: demanded) Tsuna share some of his lunch.

So now he had two people who demanded food on a near daily basis. At least Kyouya wasn't nearly so whiny about it.

"Good morning everyone~!" said Fuji-nee, ignoring the bento on her desk. Since she was their homeroom teacher, no one really commented on the fact Tsuna left food on her desk, since she took it badly if someone tried to steal it.

You could still hear the screams of the poor sod who tried to keep the box from her the one time she forgot to take it with her.

Tsuna would have felt sorry for that teacher, but he was an ass and he had it coming.

* * *

Today was perfectly ordinary...until suddenly it wasn't. Tsuna was aware his grades weren't the best. He was firmly in the upper middle of the class without crossing the line to the top ten. Only an idiot would skip out on homework if Fuji-nee was one of your teachers. She would have beaten him black and blue if he didn't at least _try_ on his tests. And Kyouya would _help_ , with great enthusiasm purely because it she asked him to and because he found Tsuna a worthy opponent.

So when his 'mother' found the flier in the mail and cheerfully informed him of the home tutor, Tsuna had the distinct feeling that his peaceful days were about to come to a crashing end.

There was no way in _hell_ this Reborn was a real baby. Not when he felt very much like Kiritsugu did the one time he told his father about being bullied and the man had brought him along so he could point the boys out.

Kiritsugu was damn scary when he wanted to be, and he taught him how to project a similar aura to get idiots like those kids to back the hell off.

Tsuna really missed him, even if he was weird and couldn't cook worth a damn. He might have taken long trips to Germany for reasons he never fully understood, but Kiritsugu had been more of a father to him than his biological one Iemitsu.

As he was shot in the head with the Deathperation bullet, he felt the regret inside him swell up and force him to act.

Reborn couldn't help but stare when instead of doing something like confessing his love for a girl he barely knew, the first thing Tsuna did was head straight to the back of the house and repair a scooter in record time before cooking a massive meal and setting the table before he passed out.

This kid was really weird.

Needless to say the first thing out of Reborn's mouth when Tsuna came to was...

"Who does the scooter belong to?"

"Fuji-nee. I swear she does weird tricks on this thing so she can find new ways to mooch off my cooking. If her grandfather didn't pay me good money to keep this and the others in working condition I would make her take it to a repair shop," said Tsuna, rubbing his head.

"...Your greatest regret was not fixing her bike and not making dinner?" asked Reborn incredulous.

"No, my greatest regret if I was going to die today would be not avoiding Fuji-nee's whining because I didn't feed her for the day," deadpanned Tsuna.

"SHIROU! I'm hungry! ...Why are you in your underwear?" asked Fujimura Taiga.

"Blame him, and your food is on the table."

"Is there a particular reason why you two know each other?" asked Reborn. Because if that wasn't the Granddaughter of the Fujimura Group, he'd eat his hat. Why, if Iemitsu was so dead set about keeping his son away from the underworld, was the Granddaughter and heir to a relatively well respected yakuza family in the house and mooching off Tsuna's cooking?

Fujimura Taiga finally took notice of Reborn, and after several seconds she seemed to come to a conclusion.

"Are you one of Kiri-kun's associates?"

"Who?" asked Reborn baffled.

"She's talking about my dad, Kiritsugu," explained Tsuna.

"I thought your father's name was Iemitsu Sawada?"

Fuji-nee made a face.

"Don't talk about that loser. Kiritsugu might have been weird and a bit scary at times, but at least he didn't make up ridiculous bullshit excuses about why he was never around. That Iemitsu guy is a total tool and quite frankly I'm glad Shirou had the sense to stay at my place whenever he's in town. He's is a terrible influence."

Reborn hid his face as he asked his next question, inwardly planning to tell Nono Iemitsu wasn't doing his damn job.

"Are you by any chance talking about Kiritsugu _Emiya_ , the notorious assassin?"

Reborn had a lot of respect for Emiya, even if he was a Magus. The man was a fellow assassin, but his habit of going into unwinnable conflicts and joining the losing side had always been a bit weird.

The two had never crossed paths during an assignment, but Reborn knew of his reputation and had the feeling they could have gotten along.

"That's my dad. You know him?" asked Tsuna, with some vestiges of hope. Very few people were willing to talk about the man or what he did.

"I knew of him. So he's the man you consider your father."

"He saved me from the fire and raised me until he died shortly before I turned thirteen. Then some weirdo named Iemitsu showed up a month after the funeral claiming to be my father, and Fuji-nee forced him to have a DNA test done before I was relocated to Namimori with the one they said was my mother. Shortly after Fuji-nee convinced her grandfather to let her move here so she can focus on her teaching career. Apparently there were a few...unusual...channels she had to go through before she was even allowed an apartment."

"Why go through all that trouble to move to Namimori instead of staying in Fuyuki?" asked Reborn.

"Like I'd leave Shirou to suffer through a family who barely knows him, much less a place that allowed him to get kidnapped because his birth father couldn't do his damn job!" said Taiga, offended.

"She came here to mooch off me. She's like my big sister," corrected Tsuna without hesitation.

So not only was the information very out of date and downright wrong, but the kid didn't even see Iemitsu as his father and barely considered Nana his mother. He only lived in the house as a courtesy, apparently.

Reborn was going to strangle Iemitsu for not doing his job and giving him bad information like this.

"So what do I call you?" asked Reborn, because this girl kept calling him Shirou when his file said his name was Tsuna.

"You can call me whichever, but I really prefer being Shirou Emiya over Tsunayoshi Sawada."

"Very well then, Shirou. Your grandfather sent me to train you into becoming the next head of the Vongola family since you're the last legitimate heir left to inherit," said Reborn. He could sense that he had gained immediate respect from both of them, especially Taiga.

He would have to observe Shirou for a bit before he decided on the best course of action in training him. At least he wasn't a total wimp like the file claimed.

Though the first thing he did once Shirou was asleep and Taiga had gone was to call Nono, switching to Italian just in case. He had no idea what languages Shirou knew.

" _I've arrived, and I think you need to have someone inspect CEDEF for incompetence. The information I got was...inaccurate...to say the least. No, I don't think Iemitsu has any idea who his son is and to be honest I have doubts he even bothered to do his job after he finally located his missing son."_

Reborn wasn't very impressed with Nono's attempts to forgive a few minor errors on Iemitsu's part, so he decided to cut to the chase.

" _You're gravely mistaken. Tsuna doesn't consider Iemitsu his father and only lives in the house as a courtesy. There wasn't_ anything _in the file about the granddaughter of a yakuza group visiting frequently enough to the house to be called big sister or the fact that he openly considers the_ Magus Killer _himself to be his father. Everything in the file I was given is outdated or completely wrong, and if they can't be bothered to keep tabs on Iemitsu's own_ son _, then something is up with their intelligence gathering,"_ said Reborn crossly.

Dead silence. Finally Nono agreed to look into it, since that was a big red flag. Iemitsu ran CEDEF, and if they couldn't keep an accurate file on one boy then who knew what else they had gotten wrong? Considering the Vongola regularly used the information CEDEF provided on missions, having inaccurate data could get their men killed or start a war.

If this didn't light a fire under Nono's ass to take notice of Iemitsu's incompetence, nothing would. In the meantime Reborn had his work cut out for him to gather accurate information on his newest student.

He did not like being mislead or lied to on an assignment. Besides, he was curious as to what Kiritsugu Emiya could have possibly taught his adopted son.

* * *

 _Four days later..._

Reborn had to admit, Shirou was not going to be the chore he had feared he would have to deal with when he was initially given the file.

Tsunayoshi before he had been kidnapped and then lost in the Fuyuki Fire was a skittish boy with lackluster grades, clumsy nature and was a known target for bullies. His prospects as a decent mafia boss were very slim, and it was only because he had the Vongola bloodline in him that gave Reborn any hope he could be great one day.

Shirou, on the other hand, was amicable and friendly, but not to the point he was walked on. He was considered the 'fake janitor' of the school, but no one was stupid enough to try and abuse that fact because of his Cloud Guardian and the fact he was so close to the English teacher. He had some skill as a third-rate Magus (because Reborn had seen them often enough to recognize the signs of magecraft training, even if Shirou's ability to it was piss-poor at best), was an excellent chef (likely out of necessity) and was an active member of the archery club. His ability to hit any target without fail made the hitman in Reborn very eager to see what the kid could do with a gun or even a sniper rifle. He didn't even need to see the target...he just aimed, and let the arrow fly.

He had the feeling Colonello would love to teach this kid.

Now he just had to figure out how the heck he was supposed to train him without using too many of the Dying Will Bullets. Because if the first use was any indication, he was going to either be very vexed or confused by Shirou's "Dying Regrets".

* * *

Shirou wasn't really paying attention when Fuji-nee introduced the new transfer. At least until his nose started acting up and he started sneezing like crazy.

Why did this kid reek of gunpowder, cigarettes, explosives, lingering poison and the smell of a thunderstorm?!

He managed to get his sneezing fit under control by the time the second class began, but he found out the hard way why this Gokudera Hayato smelled like trouble.

A bomber, really?

"So just to be clear I have to prove myself as the tenth Heir for him to take me seriously or he'll become the next 'heir'?" asked Shirou, giving Reborn a Look.

"That's right," said Reborn smiling.

Shirou looked Gokudera dead in the eye before saying in a flat voice "I call bullshit."

The teen fell flat on his face.

"What?"

"I don't know how things work in the mafia very well, but I do know that when it comes to the eligibility of 'heirs', they usually look for bloodlines first. And if you really _were_ a candidate for the heir of the family, then wouldn't they have skipped over the 'civilian' candidate and gone straight for someone already involved enough that they could get actual explosives without having to deal with the cops?" deadpanned Shirou flatly. He then looked at Reborn with an unimpressed expression. "So either this is some sort of weird test designed to prove something, or there's something else going on."

Reborn smirked under the brim of his hat.

Gokudera looked baffled that this kid had figured it out so fast.

"I'll admit I didn't expect you be _that_ quick on the uptake, Shirou," said Reborn. You could hear how impressed he was that he had figured it out so quick with such limited information.

"I might do the repair work on the bikes for old man Fujimura, but I'm not a total idiot," said Shirou only a little offended.

Reborn had the feeling that it partially common sense and a good dose of the Vongola Hyper Intuition at work.

Shirou then looked at Gokudera again.

"If you even think of blowing up the school yard with your explosives, I will drag you before Fuji-nee and Kyouya and throw your ass for them to express their annoyance with you before making you clean up the mess," said Shirou bluntly, with an odd smile on his face.

Something inside Gokudera curled up in terror. He had the worst feeling that crossing "Shirou" (wasn't his name Tsuna though?) was a very bad idea.

"Well done Shirou-kun. You've established your dominance over him, he's now officially your bitch," said Reborn cheerfully.

The terrifying aura dropped and Shirou blinked.

"What?!"

Reborn was openly snickering as his confusion mounted while Gokudera professed his undying loyalty to Shirou and wanting to be his right hand man.

The boy's confusion was absolutely _hilarious_ , especially as he realized with dawning horror there was no actual way to convince Gokudera to drop the idea. He inwardly cackled with unholy glee as he watched the whole thing happen.


	2. Chapter 2

Reborn would openly admit that he rather liked Shirou Emiya's prospects as the Decimo of the Vongola family. While he was a bit too...nice...and acted more like a house husband than a proper boss, when it came down to it he had a spine of steel and wasn't afraid to fight if it meant protecting his friends.

He was pleasantly surprised when he found out that the other person Shirou made lunch for every day was in fact the same boy he observed leading the school delinquents and displaying all the signs of a particularly strong Cloud Flame.

Though if Fujimura Taiga wasn't a Lighting, he'd shoot Shirou again with one of his Dying Will bullets. The effects were...confusing...to say the least. Shirou's "dying regrets" were often bizarre and downright baffling. Reborn was very glad the boy had some knack to drawing on his Dying Will without having to be shot for it, but it meant that when he did shoot him, he would always get a headache from trying to understand "Why?".

On the plus side, no one would ever suspect the friendly "fake janitor" and all around nice guy to be a member of the mafia.

Shirou accepted the fact he would gather others like Gokudera and Kyouya (with varying personalities, thankfully) rather easily. He had a very easy going personality.

Though Reborn would openly admit his reaction to Bianchi and her chosen method of killing was...interesting. He was openly offended by her presence in the house.

Really, what sort of mafia boss got _that_ territorial over the kitchen to the point he told Taiga never to allow Bianchi near the food? The chaos he deliberately created by telling the odd woman that Bianchi had ruined the 'dessert' he had made for her was on a scale he thought only he could inflict.

He got his dose of absolute chaos for the day, but Bianchi was definitely leery of angering the Tenth now.

On an unrelated note, Gokudera had apparently elevated Shirou from "Boss" to damn near "Godhood" because the boy had become Bianchi repellent. Kyouya certainly found it hilarious, especially when he saw Shirou actually throw small knives whenever he sensed Bianchi was within twenty feet of him.

He still didn't know how Shirou always knew when Bianchi was that close.

* * *

Shirou let off an annoyed growl, and threw the traced knives in the general direction Bianchi was in. Ever since the woman ruined his cooking with her damn poisons he had developed a sincere dislike of having her around.

And that was before the headache she had given him when she came up with the insane conclusion she needed to kill him so that she could "free" Reborn from his job as his tutor because she was heavily infatuated with him. The woman was clearly insane and needed to be either locked up or sent far, far away from him and Hayato-kun.

When he heard the story of the poison cookies, he found he hated her just a bit more.

"Shirou-sama, how do you always know where my sister is anyway?" asked Hayato.

It had taken some painstaking work, but he finally got Hayato to quit calling him "boss" or "Tenth" and just call him Shirou-sama. The official story (which was only a half-truth) was that Hayato officially worshiped him because he was addicted to Shirou's cooking and because he was able to keep his older sister that scared the living hell out of him far, far away.

Their classmates accepted the excuse, and never said anything about it.

"She reeks. Every time she comes around I always smell the same pungent odor of poisons and it always gets worse whenever she's trying to woo Reborn," said Shirou bluntly.

"...My sister stinks?" said Hayato, trying to decide whether he should laugh or simply stare.

"To be fair I had wondered why you smell of lingering poison when you clearly don't like them or even use them, but when you mentioned how she used to force feed you bad cooking it made a lot of sense," said Shirou off-hand.

"Oh? And what do I smell like?" asked Takeshi almost joking.

"Rain and forged steel, with the hint of hardened leather or well handled cloth, but not from a baseball bat. More like the hilt of a Japanese sword," said Shirou immediately.

Takeshi blinked twice.

Reborn appeared without warning, once again failing to get much of a reaction from Shirou.

"And what about me?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Gunpowder, metal, blood, and the strong hint of sunshine, or as close to it as I can get. Dad had a similar scent, but it was tinged with regret and cigarettes smoke and lacked the scent of what I can only liken to sunshine," said Shirou without hesitation.

Reborn stared at him with an odd look.

"What about Lambo?"

"Grapes, explosives, cow fur and the distinct scent of ozone like the air after a lightning strike," said Shirou.

"...Has anyone ever told you that you're a bloodhound?" asked Reborn.

Shirou had a nostalgic smile.

"Dad once said that my manifestation of detecting magecraft was like a bloodhound and it used to drive him nuts trying to figure out how I could 'smell' magic being used," said Shirou.

Magi 'sensed' magecraft through one of the five senses, usually through sight or sound.

Kiritsugu had been baffled and a little confused on why Shirou could 'detect' magecraft through his sense of smell, considering how rare that was.

On the plus side, he had a damn near perfect accuracy if he knew the right words to describe what he was smelling.

"How interesting... to think that you can smell Dying Will Flames and what type they are so accurately..." said Reborn to himself.

This made things a lot more intriguing. He had never heard of anyone being able to 'smell' Dying Will Flames, and most only figured out what they were dealing with when they were active.

It was an extremely useful skill to have.

* * *

Shirou was heading home when he found the house surrounded. Normally he would assume Iemitsu was returning, except his 'mother' hadn't been acting more airheaded than normal so he immediately ruled that out.

"Halt, only the Sawada family are allowed to enter," said one of the men.

"...You do realize you're standing in front of my house, looking like obvious mafioso and are likely connected to Reborn-sensei in some way," deadpanned Shirou.

They immediately moved to the side.

"So who did you drag out of Italy this time?" Shirou asked, coming in.

"Yo," said a teen a few years older than him with hardly any accent.

Shirou stared at him.

"Wait... Are you Dino?"

"You've heard of me?" he asked perking up, clearly expecting his reputation to be great or something.

Shirou didn't hesitate to crush whatever ego he had.

"Only because Fuji-nee bitched about her grandfather trying to set her up with some guy from Italy who was a total klutz and had an unusual tattoo on his left arm and a really weird name that was identical to a purple dinosaur," said Shirou.

"You know the Fujimura clan?" said Dino surprised, internally wincing. How the hell was he supposed to come across as cool if he was being compared to the dog from the _Flintstones_?

Reborn was definitely amused and trying not to laugh at the look on Dino's face.

"SHIROU! When's dinner?"

Dino's eyes went wide, as he had a panicked look to the outside.

Shirou opened the side door and called out "Twenty minutes, Fuji-nee!"

"...You know Tiger?"

"Wow, you really have a wish to get your ass kicked. Only idiots call Fuji-nee Tiger when she's within hearing distance," said Shirou impressed.

Dino winced.

Fujimura Taiga took one look at Dino and her jaw dropped.

"Please tell me you're not here because your family is trying to marry you off to me again."

He quickly shook his head. Never again.

"I'm Reborn's previous student," he explained.

"And you came to meet Shirou to see how he's holding up," she said, trying to look knowledgeable.

Shirou immediately handing her some quick stir fry, and her attention was lost.

"You are a brave, brave man Sawada," said Dino impressed. Only someone with balls of steel would be able to hand Fujimura's insane appetite, and this kid had her hooked.

"It's Emiya," he corrected. Dino looked to Reborn.

"Iemitsu's stupidity has finally come home to roost. Shirou considers the Magus Killer his father before his birth one, and he only lives here as a courtesy."

"...Seriously?"

"On the plus side he's not likely to take offense to any advice you might give," said Reborn cheerfully.

Dino observed Tsuna...no, Shirou Emiya. Considering the recent rumors he'd been hearing about Iemitsu Sawada, he didn't entirely blame the kid for denying any relation.

The Ninth Vongola boss had really lit a fire under the man's ass and threatened to send Mammon of the Varia to check their financial records. Apparently Iemitsu _really_ dropped the ball on someone important and Nono found out. The entire organization was under question and there were already several 'accidents' associated with it.

By all accounts they were performing a long overdue housecleaning and forcing Sawada to do his damn job and get off his ass.

Considering how smug Reborn had sounded when he mentioned Shirou wanted nothing to do with his own parents, Dino had the suspicion he was the reason why Iemitsu was currently in hot water with his uncle.

On an unrelated, note, Shirou was a really good cook.

 _A few hours later..._

Dino was about to deal with Enzio, except Shirou beat him to the turtle first. He easily leveraged the oversized reptile out of the tub and out of the window. There was a massive crash, but Enzio wasn't in the water anymore. In fact he was hanging out over the laundry lines.

Eh, he could dry out outside.

He had to admit he was openly impressed with how calmly Shirou took the whole situation. He would have been panicking at that age.

Hell, Reborn had to train that out of him pretty damn quick.

The more Dino observed Shirou Emiya (who wasn't even remotely like his father or his mother) the more he was openly impressed with him.

The kid had a weird nose that allowed him to 'smell' Dying Will flames and specialties with a damn near perfect accuracy, could hit anything within range of an ordinary bow and arrow without fail, and was cool as a cucumber under the threat of death.

He could have been a terrifyingly efficient Guardian or hit man. And yet he was going to be the next head of the Vongola family at this rate.

Dino was very, very glad he was allies with Shirou's familigia. He wouldn't want to face this kid in a fight, even if his 'fake janitor' persona threw everyone off.

And to think, this was with a minimal amount of Reborn's training. He was almost terrified to see exactly what sort of Mafia Boss Shirou could become once Reborn was done with him.

* * *

Shirou entering his house when he found the same weird kid he found during PE. The one who had been giving him weird vibes.

"Ah! Shirou-nii!"

Well at least the kid was calling him by his actual name. And considering how quick he booked when those suspicious people were following him, odds were he was fairly important to the underworld.

"Alright calm down. I'll make some tea and you can explain why your here and what help you need," said Shirou calmly.

He wasn't about to turn down a request from help. It wasn't in his nature.

The kid beamed at him. Once he calmed down enough, he explained that he was being chased. And Reborn explained the 'why'.

"So basically you can rank anyone as quickly as I can tell what Flame Type they are and what their basic expertise is with the same accuracy. And because you keep a record of it, they're after you to get the rankings in order to be a bigger menace than normal," Shirou summed up.

"You're ranked number one in at least hearing requests from others and acting on it," said Fuuta. "And you're dead last in the rankings when it comes to exploiting others purely for gain, which means you're not going to be after my book."

He could live with those rankings.

"Right. We're going to need the appropriate level of violence to handle this and send a message they won't soon forget. I'm not going to let some idiots who target children just because of a unique ability slide," said Shirou flatly.

Reborn looked rather pleased with that declaration, and Fuuta just looked relieved.

"What do you have planned?"

"I'll tell Fuji-nee dinner's going to be late because some lower ranked mafiaso is trying to kidnap me. So long as she knows she'll be fed, she'll go through them like wet paper."

"That girl is still technically a civilian," said Reborn.

Fuuta consulted the ranking planet. He suddenly shuddered.

"Fujimura Taiga is ranked number two as an effective weapon when Shirou-nii's cooking is endangered. Number one when she brings her shinai."

Shirou suddenly paused, before he snickered.

"Let me guess, Kyouya is number one if Taiga's not around?"

Fuuta nodded.

Shirou knew exactly what to do.

"Hey Fuji-nee? I'm afraid dinner might be canceled. See there's this low ranked mafia thugs from the Todd family that are trying to kidnap me, so I don't think I'll be able to handle making anything while I'm trying to avoid them. Well they're currently outside the house and I have Hayato-kun heading this way with Takeshi to cause a distraction... yeah, I'll wait."

Shirou smirked.

"She's on her way."

"And I'm going to be watching this with great interest," announced Reborn.

Reborn was outside when he heard the mighty battle cry of the Fujimura Group's Granddaughter.

"SHIROU!"

There was an indescribable bloodlust in the air that made even him flinch at the thought of facing it. Coming to the house in a massive dust cloud was Fujimura Taiga, wielding an innocent looking shinai with a tiger charm on the end of the guard.

What followed could only be described as carnage without any actual death. Taiga ripped through all the thugs and the officers of the Todd family like they were nothing. She left broken and bleeding bodies in her wake, and they were too terrified of the sword to properly react in time.

It was somewhat humbling to watch a woman with no actual training outside of a simple kendo club cause so much damage...all without any Flames whatsoever.

Once she cleared out the last idiot, she slammed open the door and practically glomped Shirou.

"Shirou-sama!"

"Shirou-kun!"

Gokudera and Takeshi were outside the damage zone looking at the broken bodies in disbelief and concern.

Shirou sent Fuuta out to announce that dinner would be done in twenty minutes, so they should just walk over the bodies if they wanted to eat.

Reborn called Dino in to deal with the bodies.

Then he went inside to eat.

"Who took out the thugs outside?"

"The Tiger of Namimori did," said Shirou cryptically.

"Whoever it was really let them have it," said Hayato.

"Shirou... How many times have I told you not to use that damn nickname?" said Taiga, stretching his cheeks.

"Fuji-nee, there's a reason Kyouya actually _listens_ to your demands he helps keep the school clean and bothers to submit reports and it's not because you're a teacher or older than him," deadpanned Shirou.

As one, the other boys turned to look at her.

"Kyouya, as in Hibari-san? He actually lets you call him by his first name?" said Takeshi shocked.

"You mean that weird kid who beat the crap out of us for going into the room he was napping in?" said Hayato in disbelief.

"Hibari Kyouya is Shirou's first official Guardian. It would be Fujimura-san, but she's still just a Latent," said Reborn sipping his coffee.

She had the potential to fill out the spot for Shirou's Lightning Guardian but he was still in talks with the Fujimura group about making it official. He couldn't exactly help her way up her Flames without their agreement, since they weren't allies of the Vongola clan just yet.

Otherwise Shirou would have to deal with that bratty Lambo as his Lightning, since his Flames _were_ active and have been since he first started using the Ten Year Bazooka.

Needless to say he felt Taiga was a much more effective Guardian, even if Lambo was definitely loyal enough to qualify.


	3. Chapter 3

"Shirou-nii! Help!"

"What's going on this time Fuuta?" asked Shirou tiredly.

"Bianchi is helping the girls make Valentine's day chocolates," said Reborn.

"...Who else besides Haru is in there?"

Haru was someone who arbitrarily decided she was in love with him because he saved her life after a monumental misunderstanding. Fuji-nee and Kyouya found it hilarious, but he found it all more than a little exhausting.

"Kyoko from your class, and the Tiger," said Reborn.

"...As in Fuji-nee is helping them cook?"

"She said you taught her how to make chocolate," said Reborn.

Shirou sighed, and asked "How long have they been in there working around the heat sources?"

"About ten minutes, why?"

"Which means I have two before I need to call the fire department and we won't have to worry about Bianchi's poisons," said Shirou. He rummaged through his bag before he found his cell phone.

He waited for the tell tale yelp, before he dialed emergency services.

"Hello, is this the fire department? Fujimura tried cooking again. No, it's at the Sawada residence this time... Yeah, I'll evacuate everyone if the fire spreads too quickly. I'm afraid I haven't a chance to replace the extinguisher from the last time my mother left the stove on too long and thought making a quick trip to the store was a good idea..."

Shirou listened to the yelling, quickly followed by the shocked horror from learning the fire extinguisher was empty, or close enough to it. He kicked the door to the kitchen open and had Reborn hold the front door wide open for the girls to flee, while at the same time standing out of the way of the newly arrived fire department.

That done, Shirou walked outside and gave Fuji-nee a Look.

"Normally I would tell you off for almost burning down my kitchen, again. But in this case the only thing I'll say is good job Fuji-nee for sparing the boys from Bianchi's cooking."

As one, the girls turned to Bianchi.

"You mean to say she's worse than Taiga?" asked Haru in shocked awe.

"She mixes up the labels while cooking and when she can't find the fancy ingredient she's looking for she substitutes it with her own. Unfortunately not everyone has cast iron stomachs like her, not that she notices or cares."

"Is she the reason you told Hibari-san to have all the supplies in the Home Ec class checked before any more cooking was done that day we made cakes for everyone?" asked Kyoko.

Shirou had taken one look at her cake and promptly told everyone that they would have to redo the cakes another day because it looked like some of the dry supplies had gone bad. Upon closer inspection, the one Kyoko was holding had some rather gross bugs in it, so no one really complained too much about the announcement.

After all, Shirou was part of the Disciplinary committee and everyone knew he could cook and cook well, so they believed him.

"It wasn't that the supplies had gone bad so much as she had switched out your cakes with one of her own. Apparently it was meant for Reborn."

"All our chocolate..." moaned Taiga in despair.

Seeing the disappointed expression on the girls, Shirou let out a put upon sigh.

"Come with me. I'll show you how to make home-made chocolate from scratch in the Home Ec room. You too Bianchi. If you want to give proper chocolate to Reborn without making him sick, you can join us."

"Aren't the girls supposed to give guys the chocolates today?" whispered Haru, not really complaining.

"It's Tsuna. He's more of a house husband than a normal boy," said Kyoko.

None of them really paid any mind to the fact I-Pin was joining them, or that she was firmly sitting on Shirou's shoulder. The two of them were chatting in Mandarin, though Shirou's ability to speak it was still beginner level at best.

Reborn certainly hadn't complained when Shirou asked him to teach him how to speak Italian and Mandarin on top of his English homework. The Italian was mostly because a majority of his current headaches were coming from that area, and the Mandarin was so he could talk to I-Pin and learn what she wanted for dinner.

Fuji-nee was summarily banned from the classroom, but Shirou made it up to her by telling Fuuta to give her rankings as a teacher.

The Tiger of Namimori was very pleased by the fact she was ranked Number One as the "Most liked and Most Competent" teacher in Namimori Middle School. It was a sad fact that most of the students preferred the slightly crazy but genuinely kind and caring teacher over the rest of the staff. She might be a bit weird at times, but they could tell her heart was in the right place and she did her best to make sure the students understood the subject matter.

It was more than could be said about the math or science teachers, neither of whom were very good. Hell, the last science teacher was fired for lying on his application!

Besides, the students found Taiga hilarious to watch, especially in mornings. Especially since Shirou had been "kind" enough to divulge the fact she got a little crazier if one were to make the mistake of calling her a "tiger" whenever she was in hearing range.

Kyouya had a lot of fun with that once by abusing the hell out of the intercom system when he was bored. Taiga had run all over the school trying to find and punish the "carnivore brat" for using that nickname against her. By the time she did find him she was too tired to do more than mooch off Shirou, who had been helpfully recording the entire thing from outside.

He still watched it whenever he needed a good laugh.

"What's going on in there?" asked Hayato.

"Shirou-nii is giving the girls...except for Taiga...a lesson on how to cook homemade chocolate after she burned down the kitchen," said Fuuta.

"Good thing too. They were making fondue and Bianchi was making the crackers. At least with him keeping them in line we won't suffer from food poisoning on Valentine's day," said Reborn.

"...I thought girls gave guys chocolates today, and they give white presents a month later?" asked Takeshi.

"Do you really want Bianchi to be unsupervised around food?" said Reborn.

Hayato looked ill just imagining that.

"Okay, you can come in!" said Haru opening the door.

The chocolates were simple, but more to the point they weren't poisoned in any way or form. Reborn was pleasantly surprised by the fact he was able to eat Bianchi's cooking and not have to use the antidotes he carried with him.

"Seriously Bianchi-san, you have to quit substituting the ingredients. How are you supposed to snag Reborn-kun if you give him food poisoning?" said Haru.

"Love will overcome any poison," she stubbornly insisted.

"Love might overcome a lot of things, but overcoming bad cooking is not one of them," said Shirou flatly. "You may have grown up in an actual castle, but if you were really planning to learn how to cook you should have at least learned to follow the instructions in the books you were using or listened to the chef. About the only thing you _can_ do that Fuji-nee can't is know how to use the stove and oven without burning a kitchen down."

"Shirou! Chocolate...!" whined Taiga.

Shirou handed her a box.

Haru and surprisingly Kyoko hands him their best efforts. Shirou blinks.

Haru he could understand, but why was Kyoko giving him chocolate?

Reborn watched the proceedings and hid a snicker. Shirou was a surprisingly good mafia boss in the making, but he could be surprisingly clueless to the girls around him.

* * *

"Snow balls, really?"

"Too childish for you Shirou?" asked Reborn.

Shirou was a way too mature for his liking, and entirely unflappable.

"No, just wondering what sort of chaos you're going to inflict when I know for a fact Kyouya is in the area. Speaking of which..."

Shirou sent a quick text... Kyouya could use something to distract him for once, and this was almost guaranteed to be up his alley.

Besides, if he played this right he could have a bit of fun sparring with his best friend while watching Taiga go nuts.

"What are you planning?"

"Something to one-up you in the sheer chaos level for once."

"Challenge accepted," said Reborn, eyes glinting.

"Shirou! I heard the word snow ball fight!" said Taiga, waving at him.

"She is going to be one hell of a Lightning Guardian once she figures out how to channel those Flames of hers," said Reborn looking at Taiga with some respect.

Shamal had given Taiga a proper examination and found her Flames _were_ already active and had been for some time. The problem was that she had no idea how to turn them from Active to Useful. Fortunately motivating her was something of a specialty of Shirou at this point.

Which meant Kyouya was actually Shirou's second Guardian, not his first.

"I heard someone was going to be disturbing the peace of the school."

Reborn didn't bat an eye at Kyouya's presence. At least that explained who Shirou had sent the text to.

"You got your tonfas with you?"

Kyouya's looked offended that Shirou thought he went anywhere without them. So he grinned and brought out two bokuto, and Kyouya's grin went bloodthirsty.

"I didn't know you knew kendo," said Takeshi.

"Like I wouldn't learn if only so I could fend Taiga off when she goes overboard," scoffed Shirou. "I prefer archery though."

"So is one for Fujimura-sensei?" asked Takeshi.

"She has her own. These are mine. I prefer a two-sword style," said Shirou.

"You should really talk to my dad. He'd probably love to spar with you," said Takeshi.

Kyouya looked rather eager to fight Shirou. His sword style was bizarre to say the least, and he had yet to figure out a way to counter it. More often than not they either fought to a draw, because he refused to lose to someone who acted like a fake janitor and house husband.

Even if fighting him revealed an unknown issue with Shirou's psyche. The guy would jump into a fight with a bunch of thugs to save a random stranger, but refused to consider his own injuries as important. He was downright stupid at best, and suicidal at worst.

So he made an unusual agreement with the idiot. If he was planning to get into a life-or-death struggle where he was more likely to lose than win, then he would have to call Kyouya and wait for him. That way Kyouya could keep the idiot alive, since he obviously needed a damn minder.

He refused to lost the best sparring partner he had ever had because the moron got fatally hurt for being Stupid. Oddly, it only endeared the Tiger to him, because she had despaired of convincing Shirou his life mattered to without forcibly dragging him to therapy.

Shirou was a sword. He needed a shield around to keep him from cracking.

"The name of the game is Leon. The team holding him after thirty minutes are up will be declared the winner. I've already determined who will be on which team."

"Which will inevitably be scrapped at some point, so don't take it too seriously," said Shirou with good humor. He also pointed one of his wooden swords at the 'mound' that Dino planned to use. "And tell your two men under that snow to get out, since there's no real reason for them not to join in."

"Your nose is terrifying," said Dino, with open admiration as two of his men came of of the snow looking very cold indeed. How long had they been hiding in there?

Both accepted the tea (and the lone canister of coffee was firmly in Reborn's possession) since the hot cocoa was more for the kids anyway.

Reborn couldn't wait to see what sort of chaos Shirou intended to create to trump him.

 _An hour later..._

Okay, when he had been told to expect chaos he certainly hadn't thought it would be this.

"Are they completely ignoring everyone in favor of trying to beat the crap out of each other while simultaneously sending snow bombs at everyone else?" said Reborn staring.

"Shirou and the disrespectful brat always get like this when he bothers to bring his swords," said Taiga crossly.

"What sort of style is that?" asked Dino.

"I don't recognize it...but whatever it is, it's very suicidal. He's got multiple openings that could be fatal if they connect," said Reborn.

"Look closer," said Takeshi. He saw the openings, but he also saw something Reborn hadn't picked up on yet.

The openings were _deliberate_. Whatever style that was could only be described as insane, but there was no denying it was ruthlessly effective. Whenever Kyouya went to exploit one of the openings, Shirou would be right there with the other sword to deliver a nasty hit that would narrowly be blocked.

Shirou was outright controlling the flow of the battle.

Kyouya was grinning like a mad man.

"You've been practicing, Shirou!"

"Like I'd let my skills drop and disappoint you, Kyouya-kun," said Shirou smiling amicably while trying to cave his head in.

"That kid is downright weird," said Dino flatly.

What sort of mafia boss acted like a fake janitor/house husband but was this good with sword while using a suicidal fighting style? Hell, what sort of boss could handle the sort of crap Reborn liked to pull without losing their sanity?

Shirou was entirely too calm about this whole thing.

Now that he thought about it, there was a definite sense of 'emptiness' about him. Like he wasn't entirely there.

It was similar to his mother, but it lacked the 'ditzy' nature Nana had around danger.

Suddenly there was a loud crash, and the air around them cleared. Dead silence.

"Time for lunch?" said Shirou.

"Che. I'll beat you someday Shirou," said Kyouya annoyed.

"Is it over?" asked Fuuta disappointed.

"Shirou's agreement is that he'll spar with the brat, but only it Kyouya agrees to stop so he has enough time to cook whatever meal they're closest to," explained Taiga.

Reborn blinked as Shirou calmly cooked a large meal straight out of the small kitchen Kyouya had brought with him...and the food Taiga had kept watch over. Even she wasn't stupid enough to eat raw food when Shirou was guaranteed to cook.

"Shirou-sama, you're amazing! You actually fought Hibari to a standstill!" said Hayato impressed.

"The idiot is a sword who needs proper shields," said Kyouya dismissively. He accepted the food and made a point to sit far enough that the others weren't crowding him.

Reborn latched onto Hibari's assessment of Shirou. He sat next to the Cloud to have a very serious discussion.

"Shirou's a sword you say?"

Hibari gave the 'baby' a look.

"The idiot will jump into a fight without bothering to care about his own health. So long as he 'saves' someone, any injury is worth it. I barely managed to get him to make an ironclad agreement never to jump into a major fight where if he lost he'd end up dead without calling me first so I can keep him alive," said Hibari annoyed. He gave Shirou an irritated look. "The idiot needs shields to keep his sorry ass alive long enough for me to properly decide which of us is the stronger one."

Reborn eyed his student with a fresh gaze. Now that Hibari mentioned it, a sword was a disturbingly apt way to describe the boy.

A sword wouldn't care about trivial things like the mafia or being embarrassed. All they cared about which enemy they were to fight to protect their owner. A sword without a shield was almost certain to crack if it wasn't properly cared for. A sword also wouldn't care what 'sheath' it rested in so long as it was used.

Reborn sipped his coffee.

It looked like he would have to revise his methods of training Shirou. More importantly if he was right, he was going to have to make sure he trained the idiot's Guardians to be more on the ball when it came to protecting their boss from himself. If Shirou didn't care about his own life so long as he went out protecting someone else, then it would be their job to make sure he made it out alive.

What the _hell_ did Kiritsugu teach the kid to cause _that_?

* * *

 _Elsewhere, in the Throne of Heroes..._

A white head of hair with amber eyes looked up. There was a ripple in the powers that fueled his cursed existence. More importantly, he could feel there was a chance for him to be free of the chains Alaya had put on him by playing on his own stupidity.

Counter Guardian EMIYA felt the faint stirrings of hope that he might be able to break the unending cycle for the first time.


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, since I keep getting asked about this in the reviews here's a general timeline for this story:**

 **Seven- Tsuna is kidnapped and ends up in the Fuyuki fire and becomes Shirou**

 **Thirteen and five months- Kiritsugu dies**

 **Thirteen and six months- Iemitsu finds his son and relocate Shirou to Namimori**

 **Fifteen- Reborn arrives**

 **F/SN- AFTER KHR**

 **Hope that clears things up.**

* * *

"It's Sakura season again," said Reborn drinking his coffee.

"Which means Kyouya will snag the best spot and will tell his men to keep everyone away. I bet I could bribe him to share, if we agree to keep the louder parts of our group away from him," said Shirou.

"How do you know that?"

"He likes cherry blossoms, and it means he can be annoying. Besides, I've bribed him before for a good spot."

Kyouya was rather open to the idea of sharing a decent spot to view the blossoms because Shirou always gave him some really good sakuramochi. He even tolerated Taiga's presence because while she was loud, she usually had to leave early anyway.

Reborn pouted. He wanted to cause some chaos.

"You can cause trouble when the school year restarts."

"You're no fun at all."

"Like you won't get your kicks training the others, since I know Kyouya's weird theory about me and that he definitely would have said something to you."

"The sad thing is I can actually see where he's coming from with this 'theory' of his. I'm just amazed he actually respects you enough to call you by name considering he's a Cloud."

Shirou snorted.

"The second time I met him alone I was coming back from being Fuji-nee's sparring dummy, and he saw the two swords and started a fight in the middle of the street. Since I kicked his ass and forced him to a draw, he's gone out of his way to fight me whenever I have swords on me. The only reason he's not more annoying about it is because I'm technically a member of the Disciplinary committee on top of being vice captain of the archery club."

"Why are you only vice captain? I've seen you shoot," said Reborn.

"Because of the fact I had amnesia I was a bit leery of being a member of any clubs and everyone remembered how I _used_ to be. I'll become the full captain when the school year restarts since the current captain is graduating."

Reborn said nothing, though he was already in the works on pairing up Shirou's current selection of Guardians with proper teachers. If Shirou was going to be a sword that cut down his enemies without caring about himself, then he was going to need some damn good "shields" to keep his ass safe.

For a civilian he had surprisingly good instincts. But he was mostly attributing it to Kiritsugu's influence, as limited as it had been.

Under normal circumstances he would have cursed Iemitsu's stupidity, considering he had nearly lost his son to the fire. Now though, it was definitely proving to be a blessing.

Someone as soft as Tsuna had been before the kidnapping and adoption would have needed a lot of toughening up to handle the underworld, never mind running a family as big as the Vongola.

Shirou had a rather unusual mindset, but his easy acceptance of almost everyone and the fact he could bribe damn near anyone he met with his cooking of all things meant he would not only survive, but he might thrive enough to bring the Vongola back to the way they _used_ to be when the Primo first started out.

At the very least he would force people to be civil and talk things out.

"So Shirou, exactly what sort of things did Kiritsugu teach you?"

He had been skirting the issue for some time, mostly because he was trying to get some much needed intel on Shirou's psyche before the influence of a Sky bonding to proper Guardians kicked in and made him put some value in his own life.

Shirou had a strange lack of concern with his own life, but as a Sky he would naturally sense that his death would harm his Guardians.

Kyouya's presence started a cascade effect that was slowly whittling down Shirou's inability to consider his own life something worth saving.

Reborn could only hope that once Shirou had a full set, he would at least curb some of his bad impulses.

As they chatted (with Shirou carrying the massive amount of food to share with everyone) Reborn slowly began to build a picture of what happened.

The Fuyuki Fire forced the seal to shatter and due to the trauma almost completely erase Tsuna's memories and personality to the point he was a literal blank slate. Kiritsugu found him and his influence rewrote the person Shirou would become...but at the same time accidentally instilling some very bad habits that no one noticed until it was too late to do anything but damage control. Because Shirou was trying to emulate Kiritsugu and complete the man's unknown dream, he became a sword.

The limited Magus training he had certainly didn't help matters, but at least it gave Shirou one _hell_ of a pain tolerance.

Reborn never thought he'd say this, but thank GOD for the influence a Guardian bond had on their Sky!

* * *

Kyouya was openly annoyed by the fact he seemed to be becoming part of a group of others around Shirou. Thankfully Shirou was a good enough friend (and he was one of the rare, rare people Kyouya considered his friend) that he didn't automatically drag him into the petty squabbles the baby kept throwing them into.

He kept to their agreement of only calling him into the big ones that could get them killed, which had yet to happen.

He could tolerate the other "Shields" as he liked to think of them for small doses of time when he had to.

Though he had to admit, at least it was never boring when he did spend time around Shirou. The boy was usually good about bringing his swords with him so he could get his battle fix, even if it irritated the hell out him that he had never been declared the victor in their fights.

He had a hell of time finding a counter to Shirou's suicidal fighting style, and he only _improved_ every time they fought!

So seeing Shirou come with the other Shields annoyed him, but at least he brought his extra swords. The last time they fought Kyouya knew he had cracked the ones he normally had.

He honestly couldn't wait for Shirou to get some proper swords. He had the feeling it would be glorious to see the idiot go all out.

"We can fight once we've eaten. No need to spoil the peaceful afternoon so early," said Shirou.

Kyouya nodded and accepted his bento without a word. He found other foods lacking after Shirou started cooking his lunch for him.

"I wouldn't recommend eating Shirou's cooking unless you want to get Flame Drunk," said Reborn when Shamal went to steal some of the smoking brat's food.

"Flame Drunk?" asked Kyouya.

"Shirou has an unusual habit of allowing his Sky Flames to saturate his cooking. It's likely why Fujimura-chan woke her Flames so late, despite not really needing her Dying Will," said Reborn.

"Oh, you mean like the Rainbow Sets my dad sells to certain customers," said Takeshi smiling.

"Exactly."

"I'll have to tell him Shirou knows how to do that too. The orange set is the most popular but we rarely have a chance to offer it," said Takeshi.

"Considering he's one Guardian short of a full set, I would recommend waiting. Once he has a proper Mist, then he might be able to help out, otherwise he'll risk sending someone into Discord accidentally," said Reborn, shaking his head.

A Sky with a full compliment of all six Guardians were the most stable. Considering how common Mists were to awaken, it was surprising Shirou didn't have one already. Hell, from what he could tell Shirou had snared Kyouya entirely on accident when he started sharing those bentos with him, accelerating the process!

"Is that why I find other food falling short?" asked Kyouya intently.

"Most likely. I'd recommend acquiring a taste for sushi or finding a way to infuse drinks with your Flames if it gets too bad," said Reborn.

Shamal was staring outright when he saw Shirou go to a relatively clear spot where a positively giddy Kyouya was waiting with his tonfa.

"What the hell are they about to do?"

"Same thing Shirou and the brat always do when he brings his swords. He's going to give him a damn good fight before he either wins or they're forced to declare a draw in favor of food," said Taiga, snagging his fried shrimp.

Shamal was positively baffled watching them fight, before turning to Reborn.

"You teach the kid to fight like that?"

"Shirou's suicidal sword style is not my doing, and as far as I'm aware his father was more in line with how I fight than any swordsman. That's entirely his fighting style."

"Didn't think Iemitsu was a hit man."

"I was referring to Kiritsugu Emiya, the Magus Killer. Any influence Iemitsu _might_ have had on his son was wiped clean after the Fuyuki Fire, and he certainly hasn't endeared himself to his own child after he found him."

Reborn grimaced.

"I'm fairly certain if he wasn't so considerate to his birth mother to the point of humoring her he would have moved out of the house and stayed in Fuyuki."

"He still has the house Kiritsugu left him. Grandfather's been keeping it for him, since he's still our official mechanic. I think there was even word about an alliance between our side and the Vongola," said Taiga.

Just because she had no interest in being the head of the Fujimura group (and no pressing need since her father was the 'acting head' and still very much alive), didn't meant she wasn't kept informed. If it involved Shirou, she was given first notice.

In exchange she joined her grandfather and father in official meetings as a show of solidarity while firmly staying out of family business unless necessary.

Once her status as Lightning Guardian had been confirmed, her grandfather had even stopped forcing her to suffer through those silly meetings with other prospective heirs. There was still a chance she could end up with Shirou, or find a suitable husband among other Guardians of allied families.

Either way at this point the whole alliance thing was more or less considered a formality. All it meant was that the Fujimura clan would support any missions by the Vongola if they happened to be in their area and would assist Shirou as the next Decimo.

Not that they wouldn't have anyway. Shirou had more or less won them over by the time he was nine, and that was _before_ he fixed their bikes at a discounted rate compared to the shops.

Shamal was torn between seeing exactly what damage the idiot had gained from his fight with Kyouya and his perverted habits. He hated healing boys for a reason, namely because they were a monumental pain in the ass.

Guys had the most annoying habit of holding back critical, need to know information. Girls were much more open about what was wrong and were nicer to the doctors who flirted with them.

Seeing the look on Hayato's face, Reborn hit upon the perfect way to get him to open his eyes about his own bad habits so Shamal could finish his damn training.

* * *

Hayato didn't know why Reborn was there, but he knew it was important so he shut up and listened.

"Shirou...well there's something off about Shirou that's going to take some effort to correct," said Reborn bluntly. Seeing he had Hayato's full attention, he continued, "As far as I can see, Shirou has absolutely zero regard for his own life in the presence of others. So much so that even Hibari has picked up on it, to the point he overcame his natural aversion to others that he bonded with him."

Hayato was horrified.

"Shirou-sama's suicidal?"

"Not to the point he's openly trying to get himself killed, but bad enough that he disregards his own injuries so long as he's helping others. I have a feeling if it came down to sacrificing his own life for someone else, he wouldn't hesitate regardless of the consequences. I never thought I'd be glad for the bond between a Sky and his Guardians."

Hayato didn't relax, but he wasn't an idiot.

"The Guardian Bond is forcing him to put us into consideration."

"Precisely. Which means you can't go off half-cocked like you're used to. Shamal has agreed to finish your training once you get your head into the game. If Shirou's so determined to be a 'sword', as Kyouya put it, then your job as Guardian is to be his 'shield' and keep his hide alive," said Reborn bluntly.

Hayato nodded. It would take a few days to sink in, but once it did Shamal would take him to a remote location to get the idiot to finish his training. Knowing his Sky needed to keep him safe from more than others would help the Storm mature a bit faster and hopefully help him put his own well being into perspective.

Three days later Shamal took Hayato outside of town every day after school to train him. Not even Bianchi was allowed to visit. It would take two weeks, but he finally finished his training and grew up a little.

He still couldn't stand to be around Bianchi without a mask on though.

* * *

"Congratulations Shirou-kun! You're officially the new captain of the archery team!" said Taiga.

"Congratulations," said Reborn, wearing one his ridiculous cosplays.

"Just so we're clear, you're allowed in to give advice on how to improve their ability to aim but leave your usual shenanigans out of the club. Go harass Kyouya if you must be chaotic...he could use something to get his mind off things," said Shirou.

Reborn pouted, but was already coming up with plans to annoy the young Cloud.

As Shirou went up to the board, he frowned when he had trouble finding his own name. It took him a few seconds longer to realize some idiot had hidden his name under a bunch of silly roses.

Worse, the guy was more obnoxious than Taiga had been before he found the perfect way to calm her down.

After hearing the explanation of the Tomaso family, he held out his hand with a blankly polite smile on his face while internally cringing. He hoped this guy wouldn't fall for the Sky Attraction (Reborn had patiently explained the fan club that had briefly formed before he started hanging out regularly with Kyouya enough to scare them into a respectable distance) and become a regular annoyance.

He didn't think cooking would get this idiot to leave him alone.

Thank kami for Taiga.

Shirou would have groaned the second he saw "Reboyama" in the classroom. Of course he couldn't resist stirring up trouble this early in the year.

"So basically we have to chose between the fake janitor or the loud mouth?" said one of the girls.

"Isn't Tsuna the one who keeps Kyouya and Fujimura-sensei from going overboard?" asked another.

Even with the Desolation Bullet, Longchamp lost the spot of Class President to Shirou. Mostly because he was the newly elected captain of the Archery club and on good terms with Kyouya and a teacher. For all his bragging, the students were only partially moved by his little breakdown in class.

Had Shirou still been the child he had been before the fire, there was no doubt who would have won.

"You suck, you know that Reborn?"

Reborn smirked, and sipped his Sky-infused coffee. He was well aware that he was on the verge of Harmonizing with Shirou as a secondary Sun, but to be honest he was finding that he really didn't give a damn.

Shirou was the sort of Sky he always wanted to have, but never had a chance to find before the curse. The teen was able to handle the worst of what Reborn had to offer as a hit man but was very easy to live with.

Besides, it was hard to complain about being the kid's Guardian after you got hooked on his cooking.

"Look at the bright side. As captain you were able to tell Longchamp he wasn't allowed into the club unless he was willing to put in the effort."

Thank kami for small mercies. The look on his face had been rather amusing when he found out Shirou was the Archery Captain, and he had final say on who made it into the club.

To say nothing of the look on his face when he found out Shirou was part of the disciplinary committee. Kyouya barely refrained from punching the idiot in the face for crowding him like that.

"Why did you press the issue of the class presidency though?"

"Mostly to help cover why Taiga wasn't there. Apparently she ate some bad Thai last night, so what better way to keep everyone from asking questions?"

Taiga was once again Shirou's homeroom teacher, mostly because Reborn saw to it. The woman was Shirou's primary Lightning, and it was better to keep Guardians together to avoid mishaps with their Flames.

"We're going to be seeing more of that loudmouth, aren't we?" asked Shirou tiredly.

"Considering he ended up in your class and is determined to make a nuisance of himself, most likely."

"I'll stock up on the migraine medicines," said Shirou.

Reborn wisely didn't inform him of the fact that there was a girl in the class below him that came from a very disturbing Magus family under the orders to seduce him. Apparently she had accidentally brought Shirou to the attention of her grandfather and the _creature_ (because there was no way in hell Zouken Makiri was human at this point) had sent her to Namimori with the intention of seducing and acquiring Shirou...or at least getting pregnant by him.

Needless to say the girl was wisely keeping to the letter of that order while living a life free of Zouken.

Reborn was openly considering bringing her into the family, if only to give her an out from that creature.


	5. Chapter 5

Shirou barely looked up when his birth mother came in announcing she had won something off a tea bottle. He gave Reborn a Look.

"This your doing?"

"Nana could use a break from craziness and it means you can have some fun with a friend of mine. You'll have to pass his test before you can enjoy the resort though."

"I would ask if we're bringing everyone, but I doubt Kyouya would want to come."

"We'll be bringing the other Guardians save for him. Apparently he's in the middle of a territorial dispute with another gang," said Reborn, drinking his coffee.

Shirou winced.

"I'll be sure to tune up his bike before we leave then."

Kyouya had been given a bike to drive around town from his uncle, though he only trusted Shirou to do any maintenance on it. He also got an upgrade on his favorite weapons, as these were made with specially treated metal to channel Cloud Flames.

Reborn had been trying to find swords he felt would suit Shirou, but he had the sneaking suspicion that he would have better luck waiting for Leon.

"Is this the same friend with the bird, or is the one that I-Pin calls Master?"

"The one with the bird."

Shirou actually grinned. He had been wanting to meet Colonello for some time, mostly to ask for sane tips on how to manage his archery club. He was stumbling through for the most part, but he would like advice that wouldn't drive everyone up the wall like Reborn had a habit of doing.

While he gave good advice, he also had a habit of being a pain in the ass.

"What do I need to bring then?"

"Well bring your bow and quiver, because I want Colonello to see you snipe with those before he trains you in rifles," said Reborn.

The Rain was going to have a field day after he was introduced to Shirou.

* * *

Colonello was _not_ impressed with the kid in front of him. Namely because he was using such an archaic and boring weapon like a bow and arrow to snipe.

Other than that, Shirou was actually better than most of the rookies he had to deal with on a good day.

"So this is the prodigy you wanted me to meet, kora?" he asked Reborn.

"Shirou?"

The boy didn't even bat an eye. He calmly drew an arrow from the quiver and took aim in the air. The first thought Colonello had was that this kid had seen _Hunger Games_ one too many times.

And then there was a loud squawk, followed by a loud idiot swearing his head off. Colonello turned and found one of the many rookies he had training on this side of the island removing an arrow from his leg. He stared.

"That's over six hundred feet away, and I know they were practicing camouflage today."

"When I aim to hit something, I never miss."

Colonello could feel the evil grin on his face.

"Oh we're going to have _fun_..."

Reborn had an evil grin of his own, and he was holding a rather large bucket of popcorn while watching the show.

Colonello was crowing with how much he had to teach Shirou about sniping, the kid was a total natural!

"You do realize there's no way he's not coming to Namimori to increase your training, right?" said Reborn.

"He's welcome to join in on the madness if he wants. If only because your training is piss poor at best," said Shirou flatly. Colonello smirked, and Reborn scowled.

"Just for that I'm inflicting twice the chaos," said Reborn.

Shirou took his eye away from the scope and gave him an evil smirk.

"You mean that was chaos? Taiga does worse when she thinks I'll withhold dinner from her."

That damn Rain was positively howling now. It was about time someone stood up to Reborn!

No way was he missing out on this show.

Shirou looked through the scope, blinked twice, then looked again.

"Am I seeing things or is there a fleet of ships heading this way with military grade weapons on them?" he asked slowly.

Colonello looked through his binoculars. Then their pacifiers started glowing.

"It looks like the Lackey is heading this way," said Reborn.

"You get to join in on some good training, kora! Be ready to take out the advancing forces!" said Colonello with a smirk.

Shirou fell into a behavior that had both the Arcobelano's immediate approval. Especially Colonello.

"Lethal or non-lethal?" he asked, already lining up the first shot.

"We'll work on lethal later, for now let's see how good you respond in battle conditions without your little toys," said Colonello, falling into his commander role.

"I'll leave you two to play," said Reborn, falling asleep immediately.

He had known these two would get along like a house on fire.

* * *

 _Skull POV..._

Skull was not having a good day. He had managed to track down Mafia Land, only to end up in the firing range of someone with no hesitation in sniping from long range. He would have guessed it was Colonello, except this wasn't his style.

Colonello wouldn't have been so nice as to only wing his men with shots that could be healed within a week, if that. Not to mention that every shot hit, which even he knew was above the Rain's skill level.

Whoever was doing this was better than Colonello at least.

Finally he managed to track down his fellow Arcobelano, and ironically the sniper who had been attacking his guys.

It was a kid! Barely fifteen, maybe just shy of sixteen at that.

He went after Reborn, barely paying much attention to the kid who fit the description of the current Vongola heir. He wasn't overly surprised when Reborn managed to trick Oodako into being unable to follow his commands. The guy was a jerk like that.

What _was_ surprising was seeing the boy defy Reborn. But that wasn't the only shock in store.

"These guys pick on you a lot, don't they?" asked the kid with sympathy.

"He's our lackey," said Reborn, already not liking where this was going.

The kid reached into a bag he had brought with him (bow and arrows? Who used those anymore) before pulling something out. Reborn had an openly pained look on his face.

"You're not going to try and convert another with your cooking again, are you?"

"It's called being a nice person. Unlike you, I don't go out of my way to be an asshole. And your chaos is pathetic at best," said the kid flatly.

Colonello was openly snickering at Reborn. Skull was staring at him with awe under his helmet.

He officially liked this kid already.

"Here. I made some cookies to bribe Lambo and I-Pin with to get them to behave."

Skull accepted the bag of homemade cookies, somewhat befuddled. This kid was ridiculously nice.

And the second he tried the cookies a bit later, he was hooked. And he didn't think it was the Sky-flames that were in the batch either.

Why couldn't he find a Sky this nice? The one time he thought he had found one, Luce had betrayed them and gotten them all cursed.

A spark of hope came into his chest.

Clouds were notoriously hard to find, let alone Harmonize with. And this kid was only just now getting the training to become a full fledged Sky.

Maybe there was a chance he could Harmonize with him.

Because to be honest, he was a bit sick of being kicked around. People never took him seriously, even though he was an Arcobelano. This kid seemed nice enough that he wouldn't take advantage of him and seemed domestic enough not to mock the fact that Skull came from a civilian background.

Reborn eyed Skull as he left Mafia Land and sighed.

"You do realize you might end up with twice the number of Guardians at this rate, right?"

Shirou paused from where he was learning how to take apart and maintain a larger rifle. Colonello was a very enthusiastic instructor after he realized Shirou was a rather serious teen who actually _listened_ when he taught him something.

"How so?"

"Well for one thing, you're strong enough to possibly Harmonize with the Arcobelano."

Colonello scoffed.

"The only one who had a chance to properly Harmonize with us was Luce. And look where that got us," said Colonello.

Cursed with infant bodies and an unknown destiny. And while it had hurt when Luce died, it wasn't the sort of pain that came with a broken Guardian Bond. She might have held the Sky Pacifier, but she wasn't _their_ Sky.

Reborn hid his smirk behind his coffee cup. Shirou had been nice enough to locate the most amusing cup he could find in a bright sunny yellow along with some very good beans. The cup brazenly declared that the owner was "The King of Chaos" and had little bulls eyes all over it. Somehow he had also found the only coffee cup in existence with a chameleon-shaped handle.

It was officially his new favorite mug and the best Christmas gift he'd gotten in a while.

(He later learned that Shirou had it custom ordered through the Fujimura group specifically with him in mind. Taiga's grandfather had found the coffee beans.)

"Let me put it this way. Between your abnormal Flames and your instinctive habit of saturating everything you cook with them, you generally tend to harmonize faster than most. That and your experience with Kiritsugu means you're more likely to attract the most unusual Flames as your Guardians."

More like his bad habit of not taking his own life into account was likely to draw in extra Guardians to force him to acknowledge the influence the bonds had on a Sky. He'd let Colonello find out about Shirou's bad habits the hard way.

"I would have thought you'd be complaining about possibly dealing with Skull on a regular basis, kora."

Reborn had a rather tired smirk on his face.

"In Shirou's case, the more Guardians he has, the better. And before you ask it has nothing to do with the spate of deaths among the Vongola Decimo candidates."

Colonello eyed the Sun oddly, but didn't ask. Reborn always had his own agenda, even before they were cursed. Strangely, he had the feeling there was something the ass wasn't telling him that he'd find out the hard way very soon.

As it was, it took a few months before he managed to get enough of his schedule cleared up that he could train Shirou properly.

He completely commiserated with the kid's open desire to never, ever be associated with Iemitsu Sawada to the point he would deny any relation to the man.

The sheer number of complaints and rants he heard from Lal was pretty damn telling what an idiot the guy was, and she had more patience than most!

Like Reborn, Colonello had a healthy respect for Kiritsugu Emiya, even if he was a bit weird. And that respect transferred without a fuss to his adopted son.

* * *

Shirou was distinctly not impressed with the weapons tuner and it had nothing to do with his inexperience or that he had nearly crushed him with his vehicle.

It was more along the lines of him sniffing at the fact Shirou preferred something as basic as arrows and swords to guns and other more modern weaponry.

Just because he had a new anti-tank rifle (courtesy of Colonello insisting he get practice in how to use one, along with a sniper rifle that suited him) didn't mean he was a gun nut.

He felt more comfortable with arrows, even if they couldn't really be modified.

They were arrows, for crying out loud. Like hell he letting this guy modify his favorite longbow.

But the most irritating part of his day came from the two assassins. His nose had started going nuts, and if Hayato hadn't seen them while under the effects of the 'modified' ten year bazooka hadn't said anything he never would have guessed there was a problem.

The two assassins sure as hell didn't expect the scent of their Flames to bust them once alerted they were in the house...or for Shirou to decisively kick their ass using only his nose and Hayato's eyes. He firmly tied them up once they were visible.

"So, any idea why only Hayato could see them?" asked Shirou distinctly annoyed.

"Knowing the likely creator of this new toy, I'd say Verde didn't want to have his own men use the technology to kill him in his sleep. So he deliberately made it vulnerable to anyone under a certain age or height. Though I doubt he could have accounted for that nose of yours," said Reborn, sipping his coffee.

"Wait, what?" said Hayato. He still hadn't noticed he was five physically despite the hassle of dealing with these two assassins.

Shirou put him in front of a full body mirror.

"...I'm going to kill him," said Hayato annoyed.

"Not until you're back to full sized and he's fixed your weapons properly. Until then you can stay here... you don't want Bianchi to find out you're stuck as five do you?" said Shirou.

Hayato paled, before agreeing to the suggestion.

"Besides... I could use someone who can help me beat that cheat Reborn on _Halo_."

Hayato grinned at Reborn's affronted look.

"I do not cheat."

"That chameleon of yours is the biggest damn cheat I've ever found, and I still have no idea how the hell you managed to get it to hook into the console," said Shirou flatly.

It would take a week for the effects to wear off, but Hayato wasn't complaining one bit. Shirou was even nicer to kids than he was to others his own age. He put up with Lambo and I-Pin's silly demands without spoiling them, and it explained why the stupid cow behaved more around him than everyone else. And it wasn't because of his cooking, like most would guess.

Hayato got to experience first hand the full brunt of "Shirou: House Husband".

He had thought that his boss was just ridiculously domestic. It turned out that it went further than being good at chores to the point he didn't really leave much for his mother to do.

If he had been born a woman, Shirou would have made the perfect house wife, it was that strong.

He was good with kids, chores, cooking and being able to handle strong personalities. Hayato had little doubt that if he would have some interesting experiences if he ever found a girlfriend. He'd have to find someone who was good at sharing the household with him, or had zero skill towards that area that they left everything to him.

How he managed to maintain his masculinity to the point no one doubted him as a guy despite the fact he was the epitome of a house husband, Hayato had no freaking idea.

However, it wasn't entirely sunshine and roses in the Sawada house.

With how thorough Shirou was with house hold chores and his unspoken independence, he could tell there was a subtle strain with his mother.

The woman might be an air head, but even she couldn't deny she only had the barest connection to her own son. It wasn't because of any independent streak, or because Shirou couldn't get along with her.

It was more like she had to share the house with a stranger she barely knew, one that only lived with her out of some twisted courtesy. Someone who only resembled her child in appearance.

And it hurt her. She might not say anything and put up a brave facade, but Hayato could tell she had no idea how to act around Shirou and it hurt.

It was only a matter of time before something snapped, and he knew it would cause a lot of damage.

Reborn couldn't possibly be missing this disaster waiting to happen, but why he hadn't said anything to Shirou was baffling.

"It's not my place. She lost her son the day he was kidnapped from her and Iemitsu failed to find him before the fire. The only connection he has to his parents is that they happen to share their DNA, and he knows it. I think he's just waiting until he's old enough to leave and not cause more hurt."

"It's sad. Wait, how did he find Shirou in the first place?" said Hayato. It was almost as awkward as his own relationship with his father, but this hurt him more than he thought possible.

"When his adopted father died, Iemitsu did his job an investigated, mostly to find out whether or not his son would follow in his footsteps. Needless to say he recognized his missing son pretty damn fast. I think what Nana needs is either a clean break, or a second chance to be a mother. I've said as much to Nono, but Iemitsu refuses to acknowledge the problem as usual. It'll take something drastic for him to get off his ass and actually _do_ something to keep his family from shattering around him," said Reborn darkly.

The only way Nana could pull through would be if Iemitsu got her pregnant again, thus giving her a second chance to start over. With how infrequently the fool came home, that wasn't likely.

Right now it was more of a tense stand off between Shirou who had more or less learned how to live alone with only minimal supervision from Taiga and Nana, the woman who birthed him but had lost the only child she had.

Reborn was already looking into appropriate apartments in the area just in case. Though the worst case scenario would be that Shirou moved back to Fuyuki to his home and took most of his Guardians with him. Kyouya was fifty-fifty, but he might come around to the idea later.

There was one idea Reborn had, but it would require a ridiculous amount of effort and might not even be worth the hassle. Namely the idea of moving Shirou's home in Fuyuki to someplace in Namimori, and having him turn it into a makeshift base.

But the cost alone would make it a one-time move, and he wanted to save the idea for an absolute last resort. Even if the house was the perfect size for a base, because he could turn the guest house into an entrance to an underground bunker.


	6. Chapter 6

**I LIVE! And as a special bonus I'll do a double update to make up for leaving my dear fans stranded like that. It's been a rough week.**

* * *

Reborn felt it was very telling that four of the Tanabata wishes were about the situation between Nana and Shirou.

Gokudera, Lambo, I-Pin and Fuuta all had the same wish... that the tense stand off between Shirou and Nana end. Shirou's wish was almost as telling. He wanted to head back to Fuyuki for a bit back to his old house.

Reborn felt that summed up the situation in the home fairly well. Nono would have to act once he saw these.

 _In Italy..._

Iemitsu was having a rough couple of months. He had thought things would be fairly calm since Reborn was in Japan training his son.

Tsuna had changed somewhat since the kidnapping, but he was still the same kid. At least from his limited experience anyway. There had been a sort of tense stand off because his son lost all his memories of them, but he was sure the boy would warm up eventually.

But shortly after Reborn went to Japan, Nono started an inquiry into CEDEF's competence. That never spelled anything good, because he was outright stating he thought Iemitsu wasn't doing his job.

Lal had been quick to submit all her case files, and apparently one of them interested Nono to the point he allowed her a pass on the inquiry.

He had yet to find out which file had been important enough to warrant the old man's full attention and spark this mess. He had interns abandoning ship because they didn't want to do the work of looking everything up and cross referencing for recent information.

And now he was being called in for question personally.

He waited to be allowed in, but the serious expression on Nono's face said volumes.

"You called me in, sir?"

"You might want to sit down."

Iemitsu's mind immediately went to his son and wife.

"Did something happen to Tsuna and Nana."

If anything, Nono looked more resigned making Iemitsu fear the worst.

"The fact you have to ask that confirms a lot of Reborn has been telling me about your family."

Iemitsu winced. He couldn't visit as often as he liked, but it was to keep his family safe!

Nono sighed.

"Iemitsu, are you aware that your negligence in actually doing your job lead to a completely inaccurate file on your son's behavior? Reborn has sent multiple complaints for the first three months about how the file was either outdated or filled with bad information. He also had some very telling things about the situation between your wife and son."

Iemitsu braced himself.

"Not only have you failed to keep a proper eye on your son, but your foolishness in staying away for months at a time means you never properly ascertained if Tsuna was actually adjusting back into his old life."

He winced.

"This is the Tanabata wish your son made. Needless to say we chose to grant it. However I find the fact that four of the people who have regular contact with your son have the same wish involving his home life very telling about how bad the situation is."

Iemitsu only had to take a look at the writing before he realized how bad things were. He wasn't aware that there was a problem with his wife and son, as the one time he came home after Tsuna was returned the boy had immediately vacated the home until he was long gone. He had thought the boy simply wanted to give them some privacy.

"And let's not forget the fact that your plan to keep your son away from the underworld failed spectacularly long before I sent Reborn to train him."

"What?!" said Iemitsu horrified.

Nono gave him a hard look.

"Your son was involved with our world via the Fujimura family long before you managed to finally track him down, to the point where he openly corrected Reborn during a minor test that landed him his Storm Guardian. He knew enough that it was highly unlikely Gokudera-kun had been sent to replace him as heir."

Iemitsu winced. So much for that plan.

"And of course there's the information Reborn has been regularly sending me each week on his progress. While he is living with his mother, there is a severe enough disconnect between them that it's only a matter of time before things escalate and he leaves."

"What?!"

"Throwing your son back into his old home and expecting things to work doesn't mean it will. The boy is independent enough that I would feel he would be competent enough to live on his own, despite his young age. It would also insure that your wife firmly remains away from our world," said Nono.

This was a disaster. And Nono hadn't even told him the worst of it...that his son openly denied any relation to his birth father to the point he only answered to the name "Tsunayoshi Sawada" because people expected him to recognize his old name.

Those closest to him referred to him as "Shirou Emiya".

So Nono read him the riot act, and Iemitsu could only think of how badly he had screwed up.

* * *

"Explain to me again how we ended up having to run a stall?" asked Shirou, though he was inwardly amused.

"Paying off the damage the baseball idiot caused," said Hayato.

"At least we don't have to pay the fee to the disciplinary committee," said Takeshi with good humor.

Kyouya had come by the stands to collect the fees of the stall owners. To the uninformed it might look like he was extorting money, but it couldn't be further from the truth.

Kyouya's uncle on his father's side was part of the police department. In exchange for guarding the summer festivals, the disciplinary committee was paid by the fees. This was mostly because the ones doing the bulk of the guarding were the older members who couldn't exactly cut off time from work and expect to keep up with the rent.

It let the police have a break and gave the local delinquents a reason to stay out of trouble. And Kyouya wasn't inclined to destroy those that didn't pay up, but he did turn a blind eye if they got robbed.

The Cloud Guardian visited the booth.

"There's a group of idiots causing trouble and stealing the collection boxes. Keep an eye for runners trying something," he warned them.

"Thanks. If they try something I'll be sure to hog tie them for you to express your annoyance," said Shirou.

Kyouya smirked, but left their stall in peace.

With the help of I-Pin, they managed to sell all their bananas. However it wasn't entirely peaceful.

Shirou's arm lashed out and grabbed the thief before they could make it more than a few steps away.

"Oh, it's you. Kyouya's going to have a field day when he gets here," said Shirou darkly.

It was those idiot upperclassman who were causing trouble yesterday.

Shirou took out his phone and texted Kyouya about the thief. It took very little time for him to show up.

"Got a present for you~!" said Shirou with an evil grin.

Kyouya's grin when he saw who was causing all the trouble was just as predatory.

The upperclassman looked between Shirou and Kyouya.

"Shit... You're part of the disciplinary committee!"

"He's the vice-captain. And unfortunately for you he doesn't take kindly to people causing trouble."

Shirou was the official vice-captain of the committee on paper. It made the adults rest easier having a "friendly" face they could talk to. Unofficially Kyouya had two vice-captains.

Kyouya dragged the ringleader while his men grabbed the guy's friends.

All in all, it was a relatively peaceful day at the festival, even if he had to keep track of the kids once they closed the stall.

Kyouya was in a very good mood the rest of the week. Not only did he get to beat up a lot of people, but he got to protect the peace of Namimori and teach a few lesser herbivores a lesson.

* * *

"Eh? You got a promotion?" said Shirou in surprise.

"Yeah. Dino came by and said Nono was planning to put me in charge of some big casinos and some subordinates."

Shirou felt like he should congratulate Hayato, but he could tell the boy was obviously conflicted about it.

"Well how do you feel about it?"

"I feel like I should be happy," said Hayato.

"But?"

"I like Namimori way too much to just up and leave. Besides, I'm your only Storm Guardian."

Not to mention this was the only place he could be certain Bianchi wouldn't poison him. Mostly because Shirou was so territorial over the kitchen and refused to let her bring any of the cooking until she could carry it and not have it turn to poison.

He could get along with Shirou scarily well, and Shirou took a lot of his quirks in stride. As long as Hayato could handle being at his side in a fight and wasn't a total ass, he didn't mind spending time with him.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'll tell them no. As awesome as this promotion sounds, I'd rather serve you directly than the ninth," said Hayato.

Hayato didn't notice Reborn outside, but Shirou did. He also saw the look of approval the baby gave Hayato for turning down the offer of promotion.

Shirou would later find out it was a test of Hayato's loyalty. Considering his background they had to make sure he was trustworthy enough to stay his primary Storm Guardian. It really didn't help that he was something of a loose cannon before he came to Namimori.

"Well?"

"Dino had orders to shoot him if he took the promotion. Considering the world we live in, loyalty to one's Sky should always take precedent over something as minor as a promotion."

Shirou didn't wince, but it was a near thing.

"Please tell me you're not going to pull this on the others."

"Hayato was the only mafia-raised Guardian you have. Taiga is lucky...the fact she went through official channels to make sure she stayed with you allows her to avoid a similar test. She's acted like a proper Guardian long before she realized she was Flame Active."

Shirou blinked.

"What about Lambo?"

"He's too young and he's not the primary Lightning Guardian. Taiga is. It's very unusual for a Sky to attract multiple guardians of the same type, but then again you're not exactly normal to begin with."

"Thanks... I think?"

"So when were you planning to visit Fuyuki?"

"Fujimura's grandfather said something about a big meeting next week with someone from Italy."

"He's probably referring to the meeting with Nono next week. They're going to finalize the alliance between the families, since Taiga is your primary Lightning."

"What exactly would this alliance entail?"

"Mostly the agreement that the Fujimura clan would assist the Vongola if any of their operations happen to take place in their territory, or back them up in case of war. Considering they're a relatively minor family compared to the Vongola, it's a basic agreement like the one with Dino's family."

"...Is Iemitsu likely to be there?"

"Not really. CEDEF is an independent intelligence division of the Vongola. He would have no reason to be there, since as head of CEDEF he's officially out of the line of succession which is why the title of heir passed directly to you. Think of this as a way to meet your grandfather in an unofficial fashion."

Shirou nodded, before an idea occurred to him.

"Just out of curiosity who am I supposed to sit next to during the meeting?"

Reborn looked at him with approval.

"Very good, you're learning. Since you're not going to be there officially you can avoid sitting in on the meeting. Or you can join in and learn how such meetings work in person."

"I could use the time they're talking to clean up the house so it's at least presentable," said Shirou, thinking about it.

Reborn knew it might end badly, but he brought up this particular subject anyway.

"You do realize with the resources of the family you could easily buy a plot of land and move the house and everything with it to Namimori, right?"

"Isn't that really expensive?"

"Considering we could easily convert part of it to a proper base for you and your Guardians, not really. In case you've forgotten all the previous heirs were killed or murdered, so something as minor as giving you a home base that you feel comfortable in that's far enough away we could trap the hell out of it in the event of intruders isn't that difficult."

"True. And it means I wouldn't have to use an abandoned bowling alley for my magecraft practice."

"There is one catch. If we did move the house and everything else, then it would have to be a permanent home. In other words you wouldn't be able to live here anymore," said Reborn.

Shirou paused. As much as he missed his home, he did feel guilty about leaving his birth mother alone. He had tried, oh how he had tried when Iemitsu found him to connect with her. But the simple fact was that it wasn't working out and even he knew it.

He was just too polite to leave and give up trying.

* * *

 _In Fuyuki..._

Shirou took a deep break of air in Fuyuki. It felt more like home than Namimori.

Reborn let him soak in the moment before giving him a nudge.

"So where's this home of yours?"

Shirou quickly took Reborn and the few who opted to join him to his old home. Hayato was rather eager to see what sort of place Shirou grew up in before his father found him.

"I'll meet you at the house later, okay Shirou? I gotta get ready for this big meeting," said Taiga.

"I'll get the grill ready," said Shirou.

Taiga looked thrilled. Shirou rarely had a chance to grill meat outside, because Nana didn't own one.

"Which means you lot are on grocery duty," said Reborn.

"How about Hayato-kun gets the grill fired up and I'll get the groceries. That way I'll have time to get everything and not have to worry about you getting lost in town," said Shirou.

"What about the kids?" asked Hayato. Lambo, Fuuta and I-Pin had eagerly joined them on the trip, as had Hibari for some reason.

Considering Clouds generally liked to stick to their "territory", it was rather unusual he opted to join in.

"Fuuta and Lambo can come with me. Hibari and I-Pin can see if they can't find something to do in the dojo."

"...Exactly how big was your house?" asked Reborn.

Shirou had an odd smile, and didn't answer the question.

 _Ten minutes later..._

"Holy... this was your house?" said Hayato staring. It was practically a samurai mansion, albeit a small one.

"The shed is off limits, but everything else is open. They pretty much grabbed anything I considered personal and shipped me off to Namimori without much warning," said Shirou, showing open annoyance.

No wonder Shirou didn't like talking about Iemitsu. The man didn't even bother to ask whether or not he wanted to leave before shoving him off on his wife.

"Hmm. It's interesting enough," said Hibari.

Then Shirou opened up the door to the dojo. Hibari's eyes gleamed, as did I-Pin's. It was a good sized, quiet, and it had a training dummy Shirou didn't really use much.

"Have fun I-Pin. There's a small tea set in the corner and I should still have some leaves. If not I'll pick some up."

Hibari was definitely pleased hearing that. The dojo was quiet, and it was absolutely perfect for someone like him. There weren't any cars on the street, so it was by far more peaceful than Namimori was.

Hayato helped him haul out the grill. Once it was set up, Shirou left to get enough meat and groceries to feed everyone who _might_ come by.


	7. Chapter 7

"I cannot wait to meet Shirou-kun," said an old man.

"We know. You've said that repeatedly sir," said his tired Guardian.

"I heard the kid came ahead and is setting up a grill," offered another.

Reborn had called to tell them about the fact Shirou was cooking dinner at the house Iemitsu found him in. He brought a few of his Guardians, but considering the fact that the only presence in the city was the Fujimura clan, it was relatively safe enough to be lax. Right now they were focused on a simple agreement between families, but afterwords Nono fully planned to get to know his grandson properly.

He had to admit, meeting Shirou's first Guardian was highly entertaining. The girl had a lot of spirit, but he could tell she genuinely cared for her Sky as a little brother. It was probably for the best she had zero romantic inclinations for the lad, though he had the sneaking suspicion she might be one of the few women alive who could keep up with his errant adopted son Xanxus once properly motivated.

But it is the scene he finds upon reaching Shirou's home, the one he claimed as his own space before Iemitsu rudely dragged him back to Namimori. The ease with which the boy dominates the kitchen and prepares skewers for the grill since most of it had already been claimed by his rather territorial Cloud Guardian. The atmosphere of the home is completely different from the Iron Fort, and he finds himself relaxing in spite of himself.

This is a home where all are welcome regardless of affiliation, where Shirou rules as a king of a rather calm castle. Even the small children are behaving, of all things.

"SHIROU! FOOD!"

Shirou immediately hands Taiga a plate of cooked skewers. The girl happily settled in on the porch and defended her food from the tiny Lightning boy.

Nono sat down, resting his old bones.

"The next skewers will be done in a few minutes. I-Pin helped me with the spices," said Shirou, handing him a cup of warmed sake. There was a bottle on the counter, well out of reach of the small children.

The little girl cheerfully spoke to Shirou in Mandarin, and he replied with a distinct accent. It was clear he was still working on the language.

"Grapes!" demanded the little Bovino, and Shirou handed him an entire plastic bowl that he could easily fit in his hands full of different grapes. The boy happily sat down and ate his favorite snack.

"So you're my grandfather," said Shirou.

Nono smiled at him.

"And you're Shirou, the one Reborn's been telling me so much about."

He could tell he immediately garnered the respect of the boy simply by using his preferred name.

"I don't blame you for dumping all the responsibilities as the heir on me on top the headaches Reborn causes. It couldn't have been easily, losing your sons in such a short period of time," said Shirou.

The more he talked to Shirou, in between the cooking and food, the more he found his respect for the young man grow.

The boy had more or less raised himself and taken care of two adults for almost five years. And he somehow managed to maintain a decent childhood despite the fact he was more or less left to his own devices when his father was gone for a few weeks at a time.

And Iemitsu had essentially dragged him away from a home he had made for himself and back into a situation that slowly began to turn into a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. A scant month after the boy lost his adopted father. About the only _good_ thing out of the mess was that he had quickly gained most of his Guardians save for the Mist once Reborn arrived. All this was on top of his almost nonexistent visits to his home.

He had the oddest feeling that Shirou would be one of the few people Xanxus would actually get along with, if not like. The boy had the sort of aura that he knew Xanxus would like.

* * *

Shirou returned to Namimori only to discover Fuuta has gone missing for the past week (he curses his mother's air headed nature for not noticing sooner) and that there was a series of attacks on the prefects.

Kyouya was very firmly in the "not happy" range.

Considering the possibility of whoever was doing this would track him back to the house, he makes a rather unusual decision.

"Mind if I crash at your house?"

Kyouya blinks twice.

"Why?"

"My mother is quite firmly a herbivore. The last thing I want to deal with is whoever is causing this senseless mess to track me down and come after her. It was bad enough when Fuuta accidentally dragged a large group of idiots after him straight to my house," explained Shirou, before he shrugged. "Besides, if I stay with you then you won't have to track me down when we find their base so we can deliver a warning not to mess with the Disciplinary Committee."

Kyouya's smirk was positively predatory.

"You're cooking breakfast," said Kyouya flatly. "And keep the brats out of my room."

"Deal."

"That's surprisingly well thought out, but how are you going to explain to Gokudera and the others why you're leaving them behind?" asked Reborn.

Shirou gave him a flat look.

"I think it's safe to assume you'll bring in the reinforcements once we've located their base, and if anyone can handle working in a tag-team, it's Kyouya and I."

"And what if they're after you?"

"Then odds are they have no idea what I look like or they would have targeted me directly. That, or held my mother hostage long before I returned from Fuyuki," said Shirou sensibly.

Reborn couldn't argue with that logic, considering who the likely suspects were behind these attacks.

If they knew what Shirou looked like or where he lived, they would have gone after Nana already since Shirou wasn't even within the same city when the attacks started. Instead they were working off what could only be Fuuta's list of the strongest fighters trying to draw Shirou out, or his Guardians.

And only his actual friends called him Shirou, as all the official paperwork was signed as "Tsunayoshi Sawada". Even if they had his birth name it would still be very difficult to track him down using that because he preferred his adopted name.

Which meant the risk of them figuring out that Shirou had joined his Cloud in a frontal assault directly was rather slim at best.

It didn't mean Reborn had to like it.

* * *

 _Four days later..._

It took Kyouya longer than he particularly liked, but he managed to track down a likely location of the base. Once again, he was happy Shirou managed to tune his motorcycle to the point it was practically an extension of him. And that he managed to keep the brat known as Lambo from annoying him too much.

At this point, Shirou firmly believed Fuuta to be in the hands of their enemy, and that he could easily become a potential problem as a hostage if nothing else.

"Are you in the mood for a little bloodshed and payback?" asked Hibari with a bloodthirsty grin.

"What's the location? Reborn will need to know where to bring the others in case these guys have some sort of trick up their sleeve that makes them hard to get rid of," asked Shirou.

The base turned out to be an abandoned park that according to Nana, Shirou had been to before with both his parents.

Needless to say Shirou had no recollection of the place, but he always pretended he did around his mother.

"Lambo, can I trust you with an important task?" asked Shirou, picking the five year old up.

"Absolutely! The great and powerful Lambo can help Shirou-nii!"

"I want you and I-Pin to find Reborn and the others and deliver this message. Your job is to guard I-Pin who will act as the one carrying the note, got it?" said Shirou seriously.

Lambo was a good kid, once you knew how to handle him, but he was easily forgetful and excitable. Hence why he was 'tasked' with guarding I-Pin who was much more responsible.

She made a lot fewer mistakes since Shirou arranged to get her some children's contacts. She also had a pair of goggles that let her see that didn't require a pair of ears to keep them on, but she preferred the contacts since Lambo had an annoying habit of mocking them.

I-Pin cheerfully saluted Shirou before telling him he could count on her in Mandarin. Her Japanese was slow going, but at least she was learning.

Naturally the first thing she mastered was "Shirou-nii".

I-Pin accepted the note and dragged Lambo off to find Reborn.

"How long do you think it's going to take them to reach us?" asked Kyouya, already getting his bike out.

Shirou slung his archery equipment over his shoulder, before pulling out a decent sized bag under his arm. This bag carried several first aid items like bandages, splints and high grade painkillers.

Just because he believed in Kyouya's ability to fight didn't mean he was an idiot. Even his body would eventually demand rest, and when that happened Shirou would be there to make sure he could keep on fighting until reinforcements came.

He got on the back of the bike, while Kyouya turned the ignition. It came on within two seconds, and within a few seconds more the pair were off.

As it turned out, I-Pin didn't have to go far to reach Reborn because he was already heading towards the mansion with the others. Leon's tail had fallen off, and that could only mean Shirou was about to grow as a Mafia Boss. It had happened to Dino, and to be honest he had been curious as to what Shirou would gain once it happened for him.

Reborn looked at Hayato and the others.

"Get your equipment. The last thing we need is to give those two idiots a big enough head start," said Reborn.

Hayato left a cloud of dust behind him as he ran to his apartment and grabbed everything he would need.

"Isn't it dangerous for the Decimo to go off with just his Cloud?" asked Shamal.

"As Shirou calmly pointed out, if they knew who he was or what he looked like they would have already targeted him, or at least taken his mother hostage. Instead they seem to be working off the Ranking Prince's list of the best fighters in Namimori to draw him out."

"And they wouldn't expect him to charge in with only his Cloud with him. It's a majorly risky ploy," said Shamal with a grimace.

"Which is why we're not going to give them that much of a head start," deadpanned Reborn.

"What's this about Shirou charging in on the idiots who've been attacking _my_ students?" growled Taiga. She was not happy.

"Bring your weapons. We're going to make sure those two battle nuts don't get themselves killed before we can back them up," said Reborn.

Taiga gave him a flat look.

"I have all the weapon I'll ever need," she said flatly, her hand firmly on a rather foreboding wooden sword. It had a cute tiger charm on the hilt, and had acquired quite the reputation among the students of Namimori as the weapon that forced Kyouya to a draw.

The Tora Shinai was quite the terrifying weapon.

* * *

Kyouya was in a much better mood. And it had little to do with the amount of broken bodies he was leaving in his wake...and more to do with Shirou joining in on the beat downs.

As predicted, they were able to at least clear out the herbivores that had joined up with the large carnivores who were almost certainly leading this strike against Kyouya's rule of Namimori.

However when they reached the main base, the two of them split up. Shirou wasn't nearly as effective in enclosed areas like Kyouya was, and he had mostly been sniping his targets until now with his arrows.

Most of the wounds would heal over eventually, but none of his targets would ever dismiss someone with a bow and arrows as an outdated fighter ever again.

Instead Shirou did something rather unexpected.

He took out a rope and a grappling hook and began to scale the building from the outside. With how many broken windows there were, it would be an interesting climb.

And with Kyouya providing the distraction, they'd never see Shirou coming from above.

He vaguely noticed the sounds of fighting outside. Obviously the weaker idiots had finally managed to catch up.

Something about the ring leader however made his skin crawl. There was something distinctly wrong with him.

And it had nothing to do with the damn illusions he kept using against him.

Kyouya was very, very glad Shirou had forced him to put a bottle of proper painkillers inside the inner pocket of his pants, even if he never thought he'd have to use the invisible pocket that the other had sewn into them.

The pineapple bastard left him bleeding and with a few broken bones, but he seemed more intent on the group outside. Kyouya dry swallowed a few pills once he was sure that the fools had left him unattended. It took far too long for them to kick in, but once they did he knew he could get up and fight again.

One thing was for sure though. After this he was so going to e-mail his mother's older brother and ask for lessons in how to be an even more devastating fighter. Even if he had to get on his knees and beg.

That bastard took him down far too easily, and if that creep could do it then so could others. And that meant Shirou would be vulnerable to the bigger carnivores out there.

There was no denying that outside of Shirou himself, Kyouya was easily the best fighter of Namimori. His shields were only just starting to become threats.

* * *

Shirou was not in a good mood, but at least the pineapple bastard merely thought him an overly annoying Sun Guardian rather than the Sky.

Being tied up to be used as a hostage was not something he was particularly happy with, but he wasn't about to argue when he could simply wait for reinforcements before really dishing out some damn pain.

He still didn't know how this ass found him.

Shirou had to raise an eyebrow when he realized Leon was somehow stuck to Reborn.

"You're too late. I've already captured your Cloud and Sun Guardians," sneered the pineapple bastard to Taiga. She had changed out of her usual tiger-striped shirt and long green dress and into something more appropriate for a dojo setting. Her chest was moderate enough that she could pretend to be a boy with it bound...which was what Reborn had her do. She was pretending to be "Tsunayoshi", as the only information they really had on him was that he went to Namimori Jr. High.

Taiga eyed Shirou with worry, before asking Reborn "Can you break the bindings?"

"I could, but it would go against the Ninth's orders for you to deal with this yourselves."

There was the sound of breaking ropes, and the pineapple bastard turned to find a less than amused Shirou with his twin swords already out. These were a bit different than the usual ones he carried around, as they were collapsible like Kyouya's weapons and much more sturdy.

They were a present from Nono when he found out his grandson knew how to fight with an odd twin-sword style. It meant he was never unarmed.

"You already put _my_ Sun in the hospital," said Shirou bluntly.

Mukuro looked at him with some surprise...before laughing coldly.

"How amusing! The little Sky stormed the base with only his pathetic Cloud as his back up, leaving the rest of his Guardians to flounder behind him!" he sneered.

What followed was short and brutal.

Mukuro gave no quarter with his illusions, and he certainly didn't care about whether or not Shirou was in any condition to properly move once he possessed him.

There was a sharp stab by the trident Mukuro favored, and Shirou vaguely heard the alarmed voices of Reborn and the others as his vision began to grow dark. Mukuro gleefully moved to possess him like he did everyone else he had stabbed with his weapon.

There was nothing but blackness...but somewhere deep inside of him he vaguely heard an odd echo of a voice speaking.

 _Connection to Throne of Heroes established. Proceeding with synchronization in..._

 _3..._

 _2..._

 _1..._

 _Synchronization...start._


	8. Chapter 8

It almost felt like he was drifting in his own mind. Except there was fire everywhere, and a scenery that he would forever remember.

Shirou had no idea if he was the only one seeing the image of the empty shell that remained when the fire started, walking through hell itself and slowly losing everything that made him Tsunayoshi Sawada until only an ember remained.

This was the day that his life was defined into the person he was now. The day he was Saved.

 _Synchronization established. Connection to Throne of Sky established. Bloodline confirmed._

What was the voice saying?

 **Are you going to let that fool Mist take control, or are you going to get up and teach that brat a lesson?**

This voice was sarcastic and full of weariness. But it held a comforting edge of steel. Shirou was no longer drifting, as he found himself staring up at the smiling face of Kiritsugu.

The expression of a man who had lost everything, but found some form of Salvation by Saving him.

Shirou found himself getting up, and there was a brief struggle with a foreign presence before it was brutally kicked out.

This was _his_ body. And he was made of Swords.

 _Aria established._

" _ **I am the bone of my sword**_

 _ **Steel is my Body**_

 _ **Fire is my Blood**_

 _ **Unknown to death**_

 _ **Nor known to life**_

 _ **I have undergone many trials**_

 _ **And yet my soul embraces eternity**_

 _ **There is only this path before me**_

 _ **My entire life is...**_

 _ **Unlimited Sky Works."**_

Shirou felt the fires spread beyond him, as swords descended upon the area around him. There was fire, such fire as to sweep him off into the abyss. Except this fire did not come to take everything away.

This was the freedom of the Sky.

There was a brief burst of light, as Leon went from cocoon into unleashing something from inside himself. It was a pair of archer's gloves, except they looked more like finger-less mitts with the number ten stitched onto them.

He didn't need to be told to put them on. The raging flames that were within him reacted to the gloves and became armored gauntlets that were perfect for using a bow...or a pair of swords.

He was perfectly calm and barely paid any mind to the world around him.

Below was an endless hill of swords. Above there was the great turning of gears across a sky with the setting sun.

Before him was his enemy. He would have to deal with this nuisance.

* * *

To say Reborn was surprised was an understatement.

Shirou had been stabbed with the trident, and considering the ease with which Mukuro had taken possession of everyone else...including Kyouya who was entirely too stubborn... he fully expected the battle to be lost.

Except it wasn't. Not even close.

A great blaze erupted from his student, and there was a scene which could only be describe as hell on earth. There was fire everywhere, a blaze that consumed everything and left only cinders behind.

Taiga let out a horrified cry in her throat.

"Oh my god... it's the Fuyuki fire..." she said absolutely horrified but unable to turn her eyes away from the massive blaze.

It took a few moments for him to process that they were watching Tsunayoshi walking through the blaze, head bleeding from something. But considering what he was walking through, his eyes proceeding to become even more empty, the wound was relatively minor.

Then the blaze began to die out, and the child collapsed, staring at the ash falling down. You didn't need to be a hit man to recognize that the boy had walked through hell itself and came out an empty shell.

Seeing the expression on the Magus Killer's face was something he would never be able to get out of his mind for the rest of his life.

It was no wonder Shirou openly called the man his father.

And then Mukuro tried to assert his control over Shirou's body...and was summarily thrown out with an ease that no one expected.

But that was only the beginning.

Shirou went straight into Hyper Dying Will Mode...and recited an aria that seemed to vibrate with the very souls of everyone around him. His eyes blazed with orange flames, as he calmly donned the weapon Leon made for him.

Flames spread across the room, before they turned into something that was above and beyond any illusion Mukuro could create, even with his powers.

This was not an illusion. It was something greater that would get Shirou into a great deal of trouble if the Magus Association ever learned of it.

This was a _reality marble_.

The world around them melted into a realm that was Shirou down to his core.

The earth was littered with swords of all shapes and sizes, and in the sky which was colored with a dying sunset as great gears turned in a never ending rotation.

And in the sky, reigning as the king of this twisted landscape, was Shirou. He was wearing a strange armor with the Vongola crest emblazoned on the back of his red cape.

( **A/N:** Imagine Tsuna in Counter Guardian Emiya armor, with gauntlets on his hands for the image of how he looks.)

"Trace, on."

Twin falchions appeared in his hands, both bearing the Chinese symbols of Yin and Yang. One was a brilliant white, the other a deep black the color of night.

Mukuro didn't stand a chance. This was Shirou's world, and he made up the rules.

He left the Mist broken and bleeding on the floor of the building that snapped back into place.

Mukuro coughed up blood.

"Kill me then."

"Mukuro-sama!" cried his lackeys, terrified they would see their leader die in front of them, while they were helpless to even so much as move.

Shirou's eyes were calm. But rather than deliver the killing blow, he shattered his twin swords, turning them into dust.

"I probably should. But death isn't something that should be given so arbitrarily. Do you really put so little value in your own life that you'd willingly give it up despite the people you have depending on you?" asked Shirou, glancing at Chikusa and Ken. Both of whom looked confused but now had some hope they wouldn't lose Mukuro.

Mukuro stared at him with disbelief.

"Is some form of false pity that you mafia specialize in?" he demanded, confused.

Shirou looked at him, and he shivered.

"I am a Sword. Whatever crimes you've committed to survive and protect the people you care about are not my concern. But if you come after what is _mine_ again, I will not hesitate to cut you down."

Something seemed to pass between him and Mukuro... but the second that moment passed, chains immediately latched onto the necks of Mukuro and his subordinates. Their cries of pain had Shirou leveling a deadly glare at the perpetrators.

"Shirou don't. The last thing we need right now is for you to spark a war against the Vindice when your shields need medical attention," said Reborn sharply.

The second Mukuro and his group were out of sight, Shirou's Flames sputtered and then died out. The strange armor vanished, leaving him in his outfit that he had worn to the fight.

He collapsed without much preamble. Taiga cried out in alarm, because he looked really pale. Reborn cursed, but thankfully the Vongola medical unit had already arrived.

He had the feeling things were only going to get more hectic in the near future. For now his only concern was seeing to it that the idiot 'sword' recovered from this ordeal.

* * *

 _Three weeks later..._

It was pretty obvious things had changed within the group. For one thing, Kyouya was trying to get in touch with the same uncle who sent the bike for training. While he had been briefly possessed, he had been awake enough to see the "reality marble" as Reborn had called it that Shirou created.

If he hadn't already considered the boy a worthy opponent/partner, he would have joined up with him the moment he saw that world.

That realm was a place only the most terrifying of carnivores could rule.

More to the point, Shirou now had a pair of proper weapons to fight with. It was almost instinctive to summon the twin falchions to fight with.

Even if he couldn't summon that realm just yet. For some reason even with the Aria, he couldn't unleash the reality marble.

Reborn speculated it was a one-time deal, and that he would have to work up to releasing it. It was the same issue with his Hyper Dying Will Mode... no matter what he tried he couldn't bring it out.

Considering the circumstances both had been achieved, he was fine with that. It meant that when he did finally figure out the trick to both he wouldn't have to worry about them backfiring on him or leaving him hospitalized for weeks.

Though he did find it somewhat odd that when Reborn had his Flames checked at the hospital, the results said he had somehow gained a Mist Guardian in between the original one to see which ones were missing and the fight with Mukuro.

* * *

 _With Gokudera..._

He had failed to protect the Tenth. More than that, he had failed to protect his closest friend.

And it hurt like nothing he had ever experienced. It was a pain that not even Bianchi could inflict on him.

Shirou didn't blame him. Instead he _praised_ him for getting as far as he had and for breaking Kyouya out.

He wasn't the only one who felt the sharp sting of failing to protect his Sky. The baseball nut had been relatively quiet when he heard Shirou's condition was so bad, simply because they were too weak to be able to stand with him.

The last time Gokudera saw him, he was planning to speak to his father. That was a week after he got out of the hospital.

Taiga had been heavily affected as well, but unlike them she had _lived_ through that blaze and the horrifying aftermath. Despite what her grandfather did to keep her protected from the devastation, she had joined in on the rescue efforts and helped out where she could with bandages and keeping everyone's spirits up until there was simply nothing more she could do.

She had latched onto Shirou initially not because of his cooking, but out of a fierce desire to help a survivor to heal from the horrors of that blaze.

She jumped into the first teacher who could help her refine her sword technique she could find, though it was slow going. Reborn was of limited help in this instance, as he was a gun man, not a sword fighter.

Fuuta had been in a lot of pain, but not of the physical kind. Out of them all, he had been the least injured save for mental exhaustion and fatigue.

But the scars he had from whatever Mukuro did him would take some time to heal. The only reason he still managed to maintain any kind of smile on his face was because of Shirou.

Shirou had told him it was alright, and that nothing he did while under someone else's influence mattered to him. He was still his little brother.

The second he was cleared by the doctors, the first thing he did was go straight for Shirou's room and refuse to leave unless one of them made him go home. He wasn't alone... I-Pin and Lambo would visit for hours, especially once Shirou woke up for longer than a few hours.

Shirou had basically adopted them with Reborn's help, though the baby had a weird look on his face when Shirou asked him about that.

Then again, Shirou had been an orphan not that long ago, so he probably knew a lot more than Hayato what it was like to live without any parents to care for you.

Fuuta, Lambo and I-Pin were orphans, though it was trickier getting the agreement from her clan.

The thing was that Gokudera had no idea how he was supposed to get stronger so that next time he would be able to fight with Shirou by his side, rather than from the sidelines.

It took him a few seconds to register Reborn's presence.

"Still brooding?" he asked calmly, sipping from his favorite mug.

Hayato had no idea where the hell Shirou found a sunny yellow mug that had little targets and a chameleon handle that looked way too much like Leon to be a coincidence with the words "King of Chaos" written on it, but the second Reborn had seen it he had loved it immediately. Unlike the ridiculous gift Haru got him, he kept this particular present and used it often.

"Well I have some news that might make your day better. I got a message from some acquaintances of mine that they'll be coming to Namimori for an indeterminate amount of time."

"And?"

"And one of them is a Storm Flame, so he could help teach you how to channel your own. You might be active, but your Flames have yet to become Useful. Shirou's been using his for years instinctively once the seal was destroyed, so once you catch up you might be able to stand with him next time."

Hayato felt hope spark in him. Finally, something he could use to get stronger that was actually useful!

It would be interesting to see what happened when Hayato was put through the ringer by Fon and Colonello. Both of whom would be arriving at the same time, since Fon had found out by accident Colonello was heading to Namimori to train a prodigy in sniping.

He was particularly eager to meet the boy who adopted I-Pin and was slowly teaching her Japanese. Besides, his nephew had asked him to train him, even if it meant swallowing his Cloud pride to do so.

* * *

Shirou woke up early, as was his habit and carefully dislodged the bodies around him. Ever since the battle with Mukuro, Fuuta had joined what Reborn had affectionately called the "puppy pile" that was Lambo and I-Pin. While they did have a shared room with Fuuta, the trio would always end up finding their way into his room and curling next to him.

It made Reborn very, very glad for his hammock, because Shirou ended up with some interesting sleeping positions since the kids started sharing the bed. Especially Fuuta, who was extra clingy since the fight.

He made a small pot of fresh tea, and once again frowned as he looked out into the rather pitiful yard.

He missed his home in Fuyuki. You could properly enjoy the sunrise without the obstruction of so many houses and a tiny yard. He had a decent garden and a koi pond.

"It is a beautiful morning, isn't it?" said a voice above him.

He didn't react to the unfamiliar scent of storms and Chinese spices. Reborn had given him a heads up that Colonello would be heading their way with one extra.

"If the yard were a proper size and the garden not destroyed by the children playing with explosives, it would be much better," commented Shirou.

"Reborn was right, you don't surprise easily."

He turned his head to the scent, and found a small baby with a red pacifier. A baby who fit the limited description I-Pin had of her teacher, at least with his still weak skills with her native language.

"Emiya Shirou," he said, with a polite inclination of his head.

The Chinese Arcobelano looked him over, but a pleased expression came on his face. He smiled.

"Call me Fon."

"You're I-Pin's teacher, right?"

"What gave me away?"

"She's talked about you, at least with what little I could understand. Sharing languages is a bit slow going, but she's doing rather well for a five year old."

Shirou poured an extra glass of tea. Occasionally I-Pin woke up early enough to join him, and she found the quiet peace of early morning as relaxing as he did, especially before training. Half the time she ended up sitting in his lap, calmly enjoying her tea.

"Thank you," said Fon, sitting next to him.

"So any idea where Colonello is?" asked Shirou, when his own glass was about empty.

"He said he was going to whip your Storm into shape while I came to see my student and her new family," said Fon.

Shirou barely avoided a laugh. Hayato was the opposite of a morning person, as he had discovered by accident. Colonello had been most put out when he couldn't wake Shirou up at an obscenely early time, but took it out on Hayato instead with great glee.

Shirou and Fon enjoyed the peaceful quiet of the morning. When the tea was nearly gone, Shirou said something that had Fon's sense of mischief kick in.

"So... want to give Reborn a rude awakening?"

Reborn might be a master hitman, but there were times even Shirou could sneak up and surprise him. The Sun didn't mind it, since it kept his skills sharp. However he did come up with some rather spectacular payback pranks in return.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Two words... reinforced air horn."

Fon grinned viciously.


	9. Chapter 9

I-Pin was practically dancing when she found out her Master had come to visit for an extended period. She had been stuck in her training for some time.

Reborn had not been pleased with the wake up call, though Fon had gleefully taken pictures to share with Colonello.

All three kids had jumped out of the bed and landed unceremoniously on the floor while Shirou and Fon ducked the gunshot from Reborn.

Fon had been most pleased with the food Shirou made, and watching the interactions with I-Pin and the teen made him very happy. He let her help with the spices and a limited amount of the prep, but kept her age firmly in mind.

"Shirou-sama, help! This crazy baby is after me!" moaned Hayato. He had managed to ditch Colonello in time to reach the house.

"Good morning, Colonello-san," said Shirou easily.

"Bah. Your stamina is pathetic bomber brat!"

"I have coffee, tea or energy drinks. Feel free to help yourself," said Shirou.

"Don't mind if I do," said Colonello cheerfully.

"I have pictures of Reborn being given a rude awakening," said Fon.

"Share. Now."

"I will shoot you both," growled Reborn.

To the surprise of the other Arcobelano, Shirou came up behind Reborn and bonked him on the head with a newspaper.

"No violence at the table or this close to the kitchen," he said firmly. Then he poured him a strong cup of coffee in his favorite mug.

"...Did he just get behind Reborn and actually _hit_ him?" said Colonello openly impressed.

"Coffee..." moaned Hayato.

"At least you weren't woken up via an air horn," said Shirou cheerfully.

"He was," grinned Colonello.

"How amusing. We did the same to Reborn and the children," said Fon.

Shirou gave Colonello a passing fist bump for having the same idea this morning.

All in all, a chaotic way to start the day.

Once breakfast was done, Fon decided to go with Shirou to the school so he could tell his nephew he was in town like he requested. He could train I-Pin during school hours, and Kyouya after it.

Kyouya blinked when he saw his uncle riding on his best friend's shoulder.

"Why do you look particularly smug this morning?"

"Early wake up call with an air horn," said Shirou smirking.

Kyouya smirked.

"I bet that baby loved that."

"He tried to shoot me and all the kids ended up on the floor from shock."

Kyouya was in a good mood for hours after that.

"We'll work on your fighting skills after school. I have two others joining us, but once we've gotten them squared away we can focus on what you need to improve."

"And I get to to play with the sword kid and the one I saw earlier," said Colonello with glee.

"Who?" asked Shirou, almost dreading the answer.

"To the extreme!"

"Oh kami no."

"Kid's got potential," said Colonello, already amused by Shirou's reaction.

"I'll give you both the same warning I gave Reborn. No chaos in the archery club."

Fon perked up at that, and was curious to see what it was that had Colonello's thorough interest. Needless to say he was immediately impressed with the ease with which Shirou handle the bow.

And yes, Colonello did end up giving advice to the freshmen girls once they got over cooing at how adorable he and Fon were. Reborn got that all the time, so it was nice to be on the receiving end of it for once...especially since they actually listened after Shirou verified he knew what he was talking about.

He had his eye on one girl in particular. And it wasn't because she was a Magus.

* * *

 _A few hours later, with Kyouya..._

Kyouya was on patrol when he happened to stumble upon the massive construction site. That hadn't been there a week ago and he had no prior warning of it. Considering what recently happened, it set his hackles up.

He growled. Someone was up to no good and he was already antsy after learning his uncle would be training him with two others.

(He was quickly informed that the two mentioned were in fact I-Pin and for some reason Gokudera.)

"I see you've stumbled upon my little surprise," said Reborn.

"What are you planning?"

"The house inside the city is getting too small, and this particular one is perfect for establishing a base."

"Bullshit. This is Shirou's home in Fuyuki."

Reborn looked him in the eye and decided to tell the truth.

"I have a feeling the tense situation between him and his mother is going to blow up very soon, with Iemitsu instigating it. Nono agreed it was rather ridiculous to put this much strain on her, and the house is getting a bit crowded. That and we really are going to establish a base under one of the buildings, likely the guest house since the storage shed is Shirou's workshop."

A Magus' workshop was sacred, or as close as one could get. Going into one without permission was something that simply wasn't done, unless you wanted to start one hell of a fight.

Considering how hectic things had gotten, giving Shirou one place he could claim as his own where even Reborn wouldn't harass him was a simple matter.

Besides, the guest house was already connected via a hallway and was much closer than the shed was to the main house. No one would suspect an underground bunker under a two-story house.

And it was close enough to town for Shirou to commute to school, but far enough away that civilians wouldn't accidentally stumble across anything they shouldn't. Not to mention the fact Reborn was calling in several favors to have the home warded beyond the simple intent barrier Kiritsugu had left behind.

Kyouya eyed the massive construction project.

At least he wouldn't have to deal with the herbivores if he happened to stay over, and Shirou had a decent tea set he didn't mind sharing with him.

"Add a few cherry trees, possibly near the koi pound. The one he had in his backyard was pathetic," suggested Kyouya.

And it gave him a place to relax.

"I'll keep it in mind. Keep this a secret from Shirou will you?"

"I was never here," said Kyouya.

* * *

Some might call Colonello the devil. Shirou was used to worse from Kiritsugu when he was around. Upon realizing he had an aptitude to his old line of work, and that Shirou honestly didn't care about the whole Magus Killer thing (it had come up by accident when he over heard something from Taiga's grandfather speaking to his son) he decided to see if Shirou could handle some of the training required to be a sharp shooter.

The moment he started getting used to the routine, Kiritsugu would add something new on top of it. He openly suspected the man was expecting him to ask for a lighter work load eventually.

Except after the Fuyuki Fire accidentally destroyed Nono's seal, leaving only fragments behind, Shirou had an abundance of energy he didn't know what to do with and a beyond ridiculous healing rate. Reborn suspected Shirou had some Sun Flames, or something else was behind that because the fact he wasn't dead after Mukuro was highly suspicious. The sheer level of damage to his muscles alone could have damn near killed him.

Of course Shirou was still in shock that he even _had_ memories left of his life as Tsuna before the kidnapping. Nono had removed whatever was left of the seal on his Flames, which was mostly to check if any of it remained to begin with...and Shirou had nearly passed out from a sudden influx of memories he only peripherally recognized.

There were one or two snippets of Iemitsu when he was actually around, and the small amount of his mother. Most of them were centered around his brief introduction to Nono the first time though.

However even with the brief memories he regained from the seal's removal, the simple fact was that he could tell his time with his birth mother was coming to a close.

So Colonello gleefully put him through hell just to see what sort of limits Shirou had. To his absolute delight, Shirou had a much, much higher pain threshold than any of his Guardians barring Kyouya and very little care for something as stupid as 'pride' unless it was his cooking.

In short, he went through obstacle courses from hell after school, since mornings were his time with Fon (mostly drinking tea and working on his Chinese to make it easier to communicate with I-Pin while he supervised the girl's training... Shirou was openly considering joining a tea ceremony class at this point) and at any time Reborn could show up and make things more...interesting.

Ryohei was being given a crash course by Colonello while Shirou was in the obstacle course in his personal techniques. In between being taught by Reborn how to use Sun Flames.

Shirou did wonder why Hayato and for some reason Takeshi would join him on the runs through the courses when they could barely make it through a "medium level" one while Shirou was easily on the hard ones that included carrying his practice sniper rifle through mud and muck.

Thank kami for long soaks in the bath.

What Shirou didn't know was that the course Colonello had specially tailored as a measuring device on how far they needed to go was something even _he_ had difficulty going through as an adult. Never mind the fact Shirou was apparently far more fit than he was at that age.

Not even Reborn knew of the weird training regimen Shirou went through early in the morning since he almost never woke up before sunrise. There was a reason why he made it a habit of drinking an entire pot of tea in the mornings, and it wasn't because he liked getting up early to watch the sun.

"Nice job, Kora! Hit the bench after a cool down lap while I whip these maggots into shape!" said Colonello, giving him a thumbs up from where he was flying via Falco.

"Seriously Emiya, how the hell do you get through these things so fast?" asked Takeshi panting. His father only gave him a reprieve from training in their family style so that he could increase his stamina. He had already noticed a marked improvement in his son's abilities.

On an unrelated note, Shirou was totally fine with eating the sushi Takeshi would always bring instead of bothering with the cooking.

Even he was generally too tired to do much cooking after going through the course within the time limit. Nana actually got a chance to show off her own skills for dinner, which made her happy since her son had unofficially taken over the kitchen when he returned.

"Practice. That, and I usually exercise in the mornings anyway," said Shirou.

"...You deal with this after school and in the morning?" said Hayato somewhat horrified/impressed.

"Actually Fon usually joins me and gives me some advice on how to improve my morning run before we watch the sun rise and I start breakfast."

Shirou was slowly adding some hand-to-hand combat to his skills, as the 'weapon' Leon had created specifically for him was heavily reminiscent of the Primo's weapon and he was a up close fighter.

He had his archery and sniping for long range, the recently awakened ability to create an almost endless amount of swords to handle the mid-range, and his ability to throw a punch was just barely acceptable.

So Fon had him practicing a few different styles while his gloves were active to see what fit him best. It got him warmed up properly for the day and made it even harder to kill him.

Considering he was the next one to inherit the title of Decimo, and the underworld was not exactly the most "friendly" place, having more than one method of fighting to fall back on would only increase his chances of survival.

Even if Ryohei would not stop going on and on about Shirou joining the boxing club when they ran into each other one morning and he saw what they were doing.

"Shirou, I hate to say this but your idea of training is insane," said Takeshi, taking a long pull of his water bottle.

"I have a lot of energy to burn and don't mind putting it to use?" said Shirou with a sheepish smile.

"Break time's over, kora!" shouted Colonello.

Hayato and Takeshi groaned, but Shirou put everything up and got ready to practice with putting together and taking apart rifles and guns until he could do it almost by instinct.

* * *

Nana was acting more ditzy than normal. In fact it was so bad Shirou immediately distracted the kids far, far from the kitchen knife she wasn't using very well to cut up the produce.

He couldn't think of a single reason why she would be this happy.

Well, actually he could think of one and he was beyond happy Kyouya apparently didn't care if he crashed in his rather large house on the bad days when he couldn't take his birth mother's air headed nature on top of mafia-induced headaches. Especially when it was almost a guarantee that the kids would end up following them.

Shirou sighed, already tired of the subject beyond belief.

"He's coming back to town, isn't he?"

The three kids and Reborn eyed him oddly, wondering why he sounded so tired and not his usual apathetic self. Out of the four, only Reborn had any idea what could cause that reaction, much less forewarning.

Nana happily confirmed Shirou's fears.

That moron Iemitsu was coming home after almost two freaking years of being gone.

And what was up with that crappy excuse of being in Antarctica? Did he really think his own son would be stupid enough to fall for that, or was it for Nana's benefit? The penguins weren't even the right breed, for crying out loud!

Once dinner was over and his homework done, Shirou immediately went to call Kyouya to see if he could come over by tomorrow.

Reborn confiscated his phone.

"What?" asked Shirou sharply, his annoyance stronger than Reborn had ever seen.

He had only been furious when Mukuro hurt Fuuta and damn near killed his friends. Annoyance was one thing that rarely registered on Shirou's emotional radar.

Apparently Iemitsu was a very sore subject, one even Reborn was hesitant to use against him.

"Stay for _one_ night when he gets here."

Shirou openly leveled the most impressive glare at Reborn that he had seen out of him yet.

"You have no idea what those two are like when he's around. Those cheesy romantic comedies have got nothing on how nauseating they become. To say nothing of Iemitsu's idiocy."

"If he annoys you too much you can spike his food or something."

In reality Reborn was trying to spark the argument that would convince Shirou to leave. The house at the edge of town was complete, though the base was still somewhat under construction. There was honestly nothing Shirou got out of prolonging the inevitable.

Besides, Iemitsu still had to deliver the Vongola Half Rings, though why he decided to deliver them _now_ rather than wait a year he had no idea. It wasn't that he doubted Shirou was ready for the responsibility of the rings, but that his Guardians were still several months away from even being able to handle a real battle between mafiaso.

Especially the secondary Guardians like Lambo. Thank god Taiga was his primary Lightning, even if her Flame was somewhat weaker than Lambo's. She at least would be able to survive a fight to the death. Lambo still treated it all like a game.

Shirou didn't look happy, but he would put up with it to see what Reborn's game was.


	10. Chapter 10

Iemitsu Sawada came into his home with a small amount of trepidation. He wasn't completely oblivious to the fact Reborn had discreetly convinced Nono to move the Fuyuki manor into a somewhat secluded area of Namimori just enough distance away to give privacy, but still close enough to make it feasible to get to the school.

The only reason for Reborn to have the home moved would be for Tsuna to _live_ in it, away from his mother. The boy was only fifteen! He barely survived a fight with a relatively low-ranked criminal like Mukuro! He wasn't ready to live on his own!

A traitorous part of his mind reminded him sharply that the boy _had_ been more or less living on his own and taking care of an adult for almost six years before he finally found him. And that according to Reborn the boy's domestic skills were superior to any other boy his age...so much so that the Sun Arcobelano had openly called his son a "house husband with possible Cloud tendencies towards the kitchen".

And yes, he had witnessed the sight of Lal choking when she got to that part of the report.

Another part of his mind also reminded him of the fact that outside of the day he brought Tsuna back to his real home with his mother, the boy had openly gone out of his way to claim 'study sleep overs' with random classmates the few times he came back to visit. Without fail, if Iemitsu was at the house, Tsuna wanted nothing to do with it, not even deviating from his walk home from school to go anywhere near the neighborhood.

The second his wife saw him, Iemitsu _knew_ things weren't good at home. While there weren't any open arguments between her and their son, there was a subtle tension that was impossible to miss.

Of course being a member of CEDEF, Iemitsu definitely didn't miss some of the gossip his wife had unknowingly shared.

Like the fact that "Tsuna's helpful tutor" had been helping him fill out some official looking forms and that soon after some rather interesting people came to talk with Tsuna-kun about the trio of kids that had for some reason migrated into the home.

The mafioso in him was crowing over the fact Tsuna had somehow managed to get an in with _the_ Ranking Prince himself to the point that they were practically brothers.

The father in him was pleased his son was such a good big brother figure despite being an only child.

He could only hope Tsuna didn't kill him when he found out who he intended to distribute the rings to...

* * *

Shirou had a migraine the entire day. It had nothing to do with the chaos Reborn lived to inflict on others, or his two extra teachers. On the plus side, he could now hold more than a basic conversation in Mandarin and was slowly gaining the ability to speak Cantonese.

His friends noticed he wasn't in the best of moods, but none knew the reason why. Shirou could normally go through an entire day with a fake smile if he had to, but today he seemed too mentally exhausted to keep the facade up.

Needless to say most of his Guardians followed him home to find out what was going on. The second they saw Iemitsu having his own little party, complete with hard alcohol and a tipsy Lambo, they all had an immediate epiphany.

No wonder Shirou wasn't in the mood to deal with others today.

Shirou's eyebrow twitched. Taiga was bad enough when drunk, but even she wasn't nearly as irresponsible as this complete moron! And why the _hell_ wasn't the woman who was SUPPOSED to be his mother keeping the kids AWAY from the hard alcohol? Didn't she know the damage that could be caused by letting kids drink such things at their age?

The Arcobelano had kept their silence, but they could all sense Shirou's openly rising fury to Iemitsu's blatant arrogance and stupidity. Fon had narrowly kept little I-Pin and Fuuta from being given Iemitsu's "magic drinks" as he called them, and hadn't noticed in time to stop Lambo from being given a cup.

More importantly he was not happy Nana had seen what was going on, but was so infatuated with her husband that she didn't even bother TRYING to stop it.

Suddenly Reborn's orders to have the home in Fuyuki moved to Namimori made a lot more sense. Who knew what sort of damage Shirou's birth parents could have caused him if not for the incident and the fire wiping out his previous memories out?

"This is a train wreck waiting to happen, kora," said Colonello from his spot.

"I've already moved all of Shirou's things to the other house. The base was established but it still needs a lot of work before it's usable for more than storage," said Reborn.

The three Arcobelano watched as Shirou's anger levels started rising in proportion to Iemitsu's presence and actions. To be honest, it was impossible to blame him for being angry.

And then came the single spark that set off the ticking time bomb that had been slowly building since Iemitsu took Shirou out of Fuyuki and more or less dumped him with a woman he barely knew, before leaving for parts unknown with a ridiculous story.

"Shirou-kun, you alright? You look ready to snap," asked Takeshi in honest concern.

Iemitsu narrowed his eyes at his son. Why were his Guardians calling him Shirou when his name was Tsuna?

"Shirou-nii, can I have some more magic water?" asked Lambo innocently.

"No, Lambo. The 'magic water' is bad for you and the others," said Shirou firmly, glaring open death at Iemitsu for giving him any in the first place.

Reborn wasn't the only one who winced when Shirou's Sky aura kicked in. He was downright pissed.

"I think we should evacuate the kids before they hear most of this," said Reborn.

"Agreed," said Fon.

With quiet efficiency, the trio started subtly moving the younger kids out of the blast range, snagging Takeshi and Hayato with them.

They barely made it out the door when Iemitsu made the mistake of trying to level his own Flame aura at his son. The effect was immediate and not pretty.

Reborn could already feel the pressure turn nasty and hurried the kids out faster.

"What's going on?" asked Hayato worried, carrying Lambo and I-Pin while Takeshi had Fuuta.

"Two Skies are fighting for dominance. There are only three outcomes that could it could end with, and none of them are good for us. I think the most likely scenario is that Iemitsu gets hit with a nasty case of Flame Rejection from Shirou."

The other two Arcobelano winced. Flame Rejection on the scale they were feeling was never pretty.

As if the mood wasn't bad enough, the shouting started escalating to the point they could hear it from outside. There was a sharp feeling in the air, followed by Shirou leaving the home fuming.

However when he got a good distance away from the house, the results of Flame Rejection hit him like a brick. Takeshi was barely able to catch him before he collapsed.

Reborn put his hand on Shirou's head, to see if there was any damage.

He wouldn't doubt Iemitsu got the bulk of it, since Shirou seemed to have only minor damage considering the sheer level of aura being flung about in the house.

Reborn suddenly frowned.

Shirou seemed to be absorbing the small amount of Sun Flames he was using to check for damage...and amplifying them? What was going on?

"So where do we go now?"

"Someone ask for a ride?"

"Dino-san!" said Hayato in surprise, before he eyed Reborn.

"Reborn texted me fifteen minutes ago. Figured it would be better to stay out of the blast range of their auras," he explained. "On a scale of one-to-ten how bad was it?"

"At least eleven," said Reborn bluntly. Dino winced. "However even I will admit his disdain for his parents is justified. Good thing it was completed."

"What was?" asked Hayato.

"You'll see in a minute," said Dino. He helped put Shirou into the car, and the group drove for about ten minutes before coming outside of a walled home. A very familiar home.

Hayato stared at it, before looking at Reborn.

"You brought Shirou's home in Fuyuki here?"

"It was either that or spring for an apartment once he inevitably blew up. Better to have a home base he's actually familiar with and can relax in than someplace he'd have to adjust to. Besides, we're still working on the underground bunkers."

* * *

Shirou woke up to a familiar scene, one that made him think that everything in Namimori was just a weird dream. Then he smelled coffee and everything came back.

Did they somehow take him to Fuyuki to get over cutting himself away from his parents once and for all? Because to be honest all he felt was relief to be out of that house.

He got dressed and went out of his room...and immediately knew he wasn't in Fuyuki. For one thing he didn't have a thriving cherry blossom tree near the koi pond or the garden next to the wall. Shirou wasn't an avid gardener and rarely did more than keep it presentable or feed the fish. He had not been surprised to hear that Raiga had moved the fish out of the pond once it became clear Shirou wasn't getting out of Namimori anytime soon.

They had gotten bigger, and if he wasn't mistaken there were a few new additions.

"Shirou!" yelped Hayato.

"Morning. What time is it?"

Meaning how much time did he have to make breakfast and lunch?

"Don't bother. You've been excused from school for the next two days, and the others will come here once it's over. And before you ask, all your things were moved here the second I confirmed Iemitsu was arriving in Japan."

Translation: you can live here and not have to suffer another day of pretending everything was alright.

Shirou took it as an excuse to relax and see what all Reborn had moved from Fuyuki here.

He quickly learned that the Vongola had spared no expense. Everything was where it should be, and some of the things had been upgraded. Like new furniture, electronics, an upgraded kitchen (someone definitely knew him well) with a much bigger freezer for meat, a full tea cabinet with a very nice tea set with a Sakura print, and the garden outside.

Shirou was very pleased his workshop had been moved, but other than that hadn't been touched.

Though he was openly confused by the new door in the guest house...at least until he flicked a switch and found it lead deep underground into a massive bunker-style complex.

"What on earth...?"

"Oh, so you found the bunker. Considering we moved the house, it was pretty obvious that we might as well make it our home base in Namimori. The garage even has plenty of new vehicles for you to tinker with if you want," said Reborn from his shoulder.

Well he wasn't going to complain about that.

"Where exactly am I supposed to bring them out? I can't haul a bike up here!"

"There's several exits and one of them is to the main road. And someone openly volunteered to teach you how to drive once you were ready to learn."

Skull had practically demanded that Reborn allow him to teach Shirou how to drive. Apparently the boy had made quite the impression on the inverted Cloud.

He seemed to have a strange effect on the Arcobelano, almost like he was trying to Harmonize with them, which was ridiculous.

Seeing Shirou openly relax in the home, as he re-familiarized himself to his surroundings, Reborn realized he should have done this much sooner. The boy was completely relaxed, yet alert for trouble.

The house with Nana was never the boy's home, and to be honest Iemitsu just made everything worse.

Shirou was only a little surprised when Taiga didn't come in demanding food, or that Kyouya joined her when he came through the front gate. He seemed to approve of the decent sized cherry tree, and Shirou knew the teen would eventually migrate to that area. Along with any...birds...Kyouya picked up.

Seriously, how the hell did he manage to turn that one guy's pet bird into his own to the point it could sing the school song? Hibird was positively adorable as a mascot, but it still confused him how Hibari had a connection to things that small and cute.

It didn't stop him from openly snickering or having a picture of Hibird sitting on Kyouya's head like a nest as the picture for Hibari, to his annoyance.

"How are you holding up, Shirou?" asked Taiga with worry.

"It feels like a huge weight is off my shoulders, to be honest."

She eyed him a bit, before accepting that answer. He did look a lot happier being in his own home.

"Is that an upgraded kitchen?" she asked, zeroing in on the most important bit.

"...Nono spared no expense when he moved the house," deadpanned Shirou.

She drooled, already imagining what wonders Shirou could create in the new kitchen.

"By the way Shirou, did you happen to get..." started Hayato, pulling out what looked like a broken ring.

"Eh?"

Shirou reached down and found a half-broken ring with confusion. Then he noticed Reborn looked pissed about something and saw Lambo with one as well.

"What is it?" he asked Reborn.

"That idiot. Does he never bother to read anything I send to Nono about your status?!" said Reborn crossly, before snagging the ring off Lambo and then making sure it was around Taiga's neck instead.

"I take it these mean something?" asked Taiga, looking at the ring oddly.

"They're the Vongola Half Rings. They're proof of succession among heirs, and they come in pairs. Once you have the other half you'll officially begin the path to taking the title of Decimo and allowing Nono to retire. What I am _not_ happy about is that I stated explicitly that Fujimura Taiga is your primary Lightning Guardian, not the Bovino brat," said Reborn angrily.

Forcing a five year old to take on the duties as the Primary Lightning was ridiculous, especially when there was a perfectly viable candidate for it that was old enough to understand what was going off and not have to resort to a fancy toy to fight.

As if Reborn didn't have enough reason to hate Iemitsu.

"Out of curiosity were any of you behind the mischief early in the main district?" asked Kyouya. He had not been happy, especially since some brat with blue flames on his head was trying (and failing) to fight off some weirdo with long silver hair and a sword on his left arm. The kid got his ass kicked and the adult took something from him.

"What mischief?" asked Shirou sharply.

The second Reborn heard what Kyouya saw (and the fact Dino had come to collect the boy in question) he started muttering darkly in Italian.

Why did Iemitsu send Basil here with a box containing decoy rings when he arrived nearly two days ago with the real ones? Was he openly trying to get children killed or something? And why was the Rain of the Varia after the decoy rings in the first place?

Something was going on here and he had the feeling he wouldn't like it.

Time for him to have an overdue chat with Iemitsu, and display his anger towards the fact the man tried to shove the duties of a Guardian on a child.


	11. Chapter 11

Reborn went to check in on Basil, inwardly fuming and wishing he could shoot Iemitsu. Just once would be fine.

"He had a box with him. Looked like the half-rings," said Dino.

"Which means for some reason the Varia _knew_ the rings were on the move to the point that they sent Squalo to intercept them. But they had no idea Iemitsu arrived early with the real ones. I swear that man is a complete idiot," scowled Reborn.

Dino winced.

"This is going to turn ugly isn't it?"

"I have confidence Shirou could handle Xanxus, and his Guardians are more or less on the competent side. They might get banged up but I have every faith they'd survive. However I am not pleased Iemitsu thought to give the Lightning ring to Lambo instead of Taiga."

"Wait, _what_? Lambo's only five! And everyone knows Taiga is the primary Lightning! I mean he could possibly take over in ten years, but right now he's still a kid!" said Dino horrified.

"Which means that we might have to deal with _both_ of them fighting in the same arena. I have the feeling this is going to turn into a Ring Battle, if the Varia are already moving to take the rings. Xanxus _does_ have a potential stake in claiming the title of Decimo, even if people still remember the Cradle Affair."

"God, this is a total mess and a half. Why were the rings sent anyway? It thought the earliest that you could claim the title of heir was sixteen."

Reborn frowned. Shirou _should_ have had one more year before Nono would send the rings. It was less for his sake, and more for his Guardians. Shirou could easily handle the Vongola as he was now, and it was mostly minor corrections that Reborn had to deal with at this point. His Guardians were either inexperienced, had only a limited skill set, or were still adjusting to the mafia lifestyle.

The extra year was more to get them up to speed and able to handle the strain than to get Shirou ready for the responsibilities.

Something was going on, and Reborn didn't like it.

* * *

"So you're upping our training schedule...why?" asked Shirou.

"Because I have a feeling that the Varia are coming and I would rather be over prepared for nothing, rather than play catch up once they show up."

"So what are we going to do?"

"I'm going to teach you something the Primo created. It's called the Zero Point Breakthrough. Besides, you need to get used to Hyper Dying Will Mode and this is the perfect time to do it."

"Two birds with one stone?" asked Shirou.

"Exactly. Since I have no idea how we're supposed to train a reality marble, this is the next best thing."

"Where do we get started?" asked Shirou.

There were times Reborn loved training this kid. This was definitely one of them, if only because he didn't let things like a potential death sentence faze him.

* * *

 _In an unknown location of Space and Time..._

Amber eyes waited patiently for the awakening. The soul that had managed to diverge from that cursed path almost from birth. The Soul that was Shirou Emiya, yet at the same time was Tsunayoshi Sawada. The past had been wiped clean to make way for a future that would no longer be set in stone.

This Shirou was weaker... but at the same time so much stronger than the divergence that merged the two timelines into a single point.

Counter Guardian EMIYA had felt the soul latch onto his, had accepted the new aria eagerly. This soul would find the balance to correct the distortion. This version of Shirou would never feel the pain of being bound to Alaya in a desperate bid to save those who would never thank him for his ultimate sacrifice.

Shirou was both his damnation and his salvation. And if it meant being forever tied to a Throne not too dissimilar to the one he resided in for eternity, well at least he wasn't the clean up spirit of a cruel entity who had taken his dream of being a Hero and destroyed it.

So he waited. Waited for "Shirou Emiya" to reach out into the void for a power greater and lesser than himself in a bid to protect his Harmony from destruction.

Archer just wished the boy would figure out how to speed up the process to fully integrate what remained of the Unlimited Blade Works. What little he had absorbed was the mere tip of that particular iceberg.

He just prayed this Shirou never had to follow the path of Ashura in order to become carved in his own way into the Throne of Heroes... or at least get a backdoor into it.

* * *

 _With Shirou..._

It felt like he was trying to grasp the infinite eternity, or possibly the Root. It was always there, at the tip of his fingers. While he had gotten the basics of the Zero Point Breakthrough rather quickly once he grasped what Reborn was trying to train him in, he found the 'reality marble' was just out of his reach.

He knew the aria, as there was no way Reborn was going to forget _that_ in a hurry. But every time he tried to reach for it, it felt like it was just out of his reach. Like he was missing some key to unlocking it, or at least part of it.

Shirou laughed bitterly, laying on the ground letting his poor abused muscles rest.

"It's too bad there aren't any Magus in Namimori. Maybe they could tell me what I'm doing wrong."

Reborn paused from where he was cleaning his guns.

"Actually..."

Shirou turned to look at him.

"There is a Magus, or at least one with Magus connections in town. She's in the class a year below yours and was sent here to seduce your or to gain your genes for her Family. However she is a bit shy so she hasn't made much progress. It doesn't help that you're unusually oblivious to girls who are trying to get into your good graces later."

"You mean it's odd that while I've hit puberty hormones haven't hit me like a brick yet so I notice girls or guys," deadpanned Shirou. "Who is it?"

"Sakura Matou."

Shirou blinked.

"I know that name. She's the girl Colonello said had a real aptitude for archery when he visited the club, the one with the purple hair. Kyouya thought she might be abused, but she lives alone and doesn't really socialize much. I mean outside of a few visits to her grandfather's house every few months..."

"Perhaps it's time to reach out to her, see if she has any idea of what you're doing wrong."

"Maybe you should get her. She might react better to a baby bringing her here, and to be honest my legs still feel like jello."

"Fair enough," said Reborn, hopping off the clean table that he had been sitting on.

He was off to scout the Magus girl.

* * *

Sakura Matou was not having a good week. She had just come back from another visit with her 'grandfather', and he was distinctly unhappy with her lack of progress. If she didn't show some form of getting close to the Emiya boy, then he was threatening to make her return.

She was an empty shell of a girl who had suffered far too much because of her arrogant father. Robbed of her innocence in the name of progressing Magecraft.

She had been impressed by Shirou ever since she saw him trying to jump over that bar when he was eleven...and somehow managing to fly over it with an orange-colored aura. He never gave up until he succeeded.

It was that perseverance that she admired. That drive to never give up, even though he didn't have a chance to succeed.

Needless to say she had to blink a few times when she saw the same "baby" who had taken to following Shirou around for the past year or so.

"So, are you still looking for a way into Shirou's life?" he asked.

"Who are you?" she asked, surprised.

"My name is Reborn, and I have a way for you to fulfill the order your grandfather gave you ever since Iemitsu dragged him from Fuyuki and he found out that one of the Vongola had been living in the city. I can't guarantee you'll get into his pants, but at least you'll have a chance," said Reborn cryptically.

He heard rumors of the Makiri line of magecraft, and what little he heard made him sick. Only the most depraved Magi used crest worms, and this poor girl had been placed "in training" since before she was even seven.

Sakura felt the faint stirring of hope. She wouldn't have to leave her life here in Namimori or turned into a 'toy' for Shinji if she showed some progress.

"What do you need me to do? I'm not a very good Magus, but I'll help if I can."

"It's mostly to see what he's doing wrong."

 _In Shirou's home..._

It felt strange, having another piece of Fuyuki in Namimori, but Sakura was surprisingly easy to get along with.

She almost immediately fell in step with him, like a natural part of his environment.

Sakura was quite possibly the _only_ girl who managed to successfully get into the kitchen while he was there...and not make him feel like Kyouya around others.

She immediately corrected a few misconceptions he had about his circuits... apparently he had been doing it wrong for years and never knew. She didn't mock him or tell him off. Instead she gently corrected his mistake.

She seemed almost shocked at the fact Shirou listened to her, and that he treated her so nicely.

Zouken wasn't a very nice person, and she seemed relieved that she could hopefully convince him to let her stay in Namimori.

Considering she didn't really have any place to go, and to give her something to report to this Zouken, Sakura was given a place to sleep in the guest house. Perhaps, if Shirou grew more comfortable around her, she could eventually get a room in the main house.

She was surprised to learn that the other Elements accepted her presence among them without question. It felt...nice.

* * *

"What the hell, shitty boss!"

"They're fake, you stupid shark trash," snarled Xanxus.

He was going to kill Iemitsu's son. The man had been slowly trying to undermine his authority as the Varia head for years while he was frozen, while at the same time allowing the rot in the Vongola to flourish. It sickened him that CEDEF, the group responsible for intelligence never even realized that there were rats in the Family. Worse, his idiocy allowed even more to infiltrate the group, corrupting information before it even got to the damn old man.

Xanxus didn't believe that Nono had lit a fire under Iemitsu's ass for a minute. Sure there had been a spate of 'accidents', but that meant nothing. All it could mean was that a Familigia had gotten cocky and Lal found out about it.

Iemitsu was so _proud_ of his son, and ending him would mean he could take the position of Decimo heir.

The moment he found out that Iemitsu had taken the rings entrusted to the head of CEDEF, Xanxus knew he had to act and fast. If Tsuna was acknowledged as the Decimo heir, then he would have to wait for the brat to die before he could stake his claim.

He was already on thin ice for the Cradle Affair.

Xanxus was pissed that Squalo had taken the fake rings.

"We're heading to Japan."

* * *

Where had it gone so wrong?

Tsuna had left the house, making it clear he would never return and worse, Reborn had _let_ him. As if that wasn't bad enough, he received word from Lal that the Varia were heading to Japan, as Xanxus had found out the deception.

There was no way his son would be able to handle a fight with Xanxus!

Nana had been devastated when Shirou left. Not even his presence managed to keep a smile on her face for long.

The sad fact was that Tsuna had been lost to them long before Iemitsu stumbled on his son's picture at the funeral of the Magus Killer.

His son was nothing like he remembered. He had gone from a happy, if clumsy child to someone he didn't recognize. And worse, he openly took the name of the infamous Magus Killer as his own, rather than the one he had been born with.

Iemitsu hit the bottle hard, both to dull the sharp shock of his son fighting against him and leaving his family...and to help the even sharper pain of his son's Sky Flames.

He had fought many battles in the mafia. Never before had he run into someone who literally felt as if they were holding a sword to your unguarded neck when flaring their aura.

Because that's _exactly_ how Tsuna's Flames had felt when he flared his Sky aura. Like he was up against countless blades of all shapes and sizes, ready to cut him down like the samurai of old.

Iemitsu shivered. What the _hell_ did that bastard Kiritsugu do to his son to cause such a sharp change in his Flames?

* * *

Reborn wasn't the only one staring. Anyone who had experience with Shirou's bizarre Cloud tendencies was watching with undisguised disbelief and outright fascination.

Why, you might ask?

Sakura Matou was cooking dinner while Shirou was keeping the kids occupied...and he _let_ her handle the responsibility of cooking.

Shirou was as territorial as Kyouya was to Namimori when it came to his kitchen. Not even Nana, his own _mother_ could successfully convince him to hand over the duty of making the meal.

And yet this one girl who had been sent with the sole purpose of seducing or acquiring his bloodline somehow managed to convince Shirou that he could spend time with the kids while she cooked.

It was a miracle bordering on sorcery.

Fon eyed Reborn warily.

"I know that look. What are you planning?"

"Well we both know she's of a good bloodline and she's managed to do what even I considered impossible..."

"You're going to awaken her Dying Will Flames and set up a contract between her and the brat, aren't you, kora?" said Colonello.

"It would neatly solve the issue of continuing the bloodline and securing a line of succession. Besides, you've been around Shirou long enough that you have to have noticed something."

"He pays no attention to girls his age, or even other men outside of a fight," said Fon.

Which was beyond odd, because Shirou was in the right age to be noticing things like that. While it made training him a relief, because he had the mindset of a true warrior dedicated to battle, it meant that in the off times they were very frustrated. Mostly because they had hopes to watch Shirou flounder as a teenager and fumble about with his love life.

Half the fun/frustration of training teenagers was the clumsy efforts they made in romance, both the highs and the inevitable pitfalls.

Besides...there was something off about Sakura and Reborn suspected it had something to do with the Makiri line of magecraft. If he was right, then it might be better to see what effects the Dying Will Flame had on her, or if necessary put her out of her misery.

Considering the sort of creature Zouken was, Reborn openly asked the other two Arcobelano to stay nearby to come help contain the situation if things went sour.

* * *

 _Two days later..._

Shirou didn't know why Reborn was planning to shoot Sakura with one of his Dying Will Bullets, but he couldn't help the feeling that things were going to go from crazy straight to "Reborn-level weird" in a hurry.

And wasn't that a sad testament to how insane his life had become that he used his tutor as a measure of how crazy things got in his life?

Kami only knew Colonello had literally laughed so hard he fell off the bench they were using when Shirou happened to make that comparison, and even Fon had choked on his tea while trying not to laugh.

Because honestly, using Reborn-chaos as a measuring stick was something many in the mafia could understand and commiserate with.

A single shot, loaded with the infamous Dying Will Bullet, or "Deathperation Bullet" as it was also called. Sakura fell backward. Forewarned she wore more conservative undergarments...namely a long sports bra and shorts to avoid the majority of the embarrassment the bullet had a habit of causing.

For a split second, Reborn thought he killed the girl. Then something happened that had Shirou sighing and muttering something about "Reborn-level Chaos" and how he had a headache.

There were _two_ Sakura. One was the girl they had quickly become familiar with and had miraculously convinced Shirou to allow her to take on some of the responsibilities of the kitchen. The other was a darker, more malevolent version of the girl with an air that made Reborn's skin crawl from years of experience with the dark nature of the underworld.

This was not something he wanted to face on a good day, much less this unprepared.

" **How unexpected. Who would have guessed it would take the children of the Sky to liberate me from that blasted Grail prematurely?"** said the darker Sakura.

"Who or what are you?" asked Reborn, openly tense.

The darker Sakura sneered at him. He clutched his gun tighter, ready to fight if he had to.

The other Sakura was already making dinner with her Dying Will flame merrily burning bright. Her flames were a calming indigo, sunny gold with sharp tints of vibrant green. An odd combination, but then again Shirou had weird streaks of gold in his bright, sharp orange.

" **I have no name, as I am part of the greater whole. I have taken many forms, many titles, but this shape remains the same."**

Shirou pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You're part of Sakura, aren't you?"

" **I am part of her, but not. I am merely the embodiment of the Grail shards Zouken implanted in her when he began to believe that she would fail the task he set before her. He planned to recall her within the next year so she could undergo more training to become...pliable."**

And didn't that sound very ominous?

"Are you going to fade back into Sakura's subconscious?" asked Shirou bluntly.

She shook her head.

" **Thanks to your meddling, I have become self-sustaining. The closest equivalent would be a Servant without a Class, though Avenger is the nearest comparison."**

"In that case we're going to need to give you a name. Because having two Sakura is going to get confusing fast and you don't feel anything like her."

"Shirou...are you sure about this?" said Reborn tense.

"She hasn't attacked us so far, and I see no reason to make her an enemy without seeing who's side she's on first. It's bad enough I had to deal with Mukuro because he thought I was a viable target and hurt so many in a bid to possess me."

"He has a point," said Fon, though he was clearly not pleased with this creature either.

"Yeah, I'd rather have the entity that makes my skin crawl on _my_ side than antagonize it for no reason and make it an enemy after my hide, kora," agreed Colonello.

The fake Sakura smiled at them. It made their finely honed senses as mafia-killers shiver.

"Konohana. Because for some reason I can't look at you without the weird 'goddess' from the _Okami_ games popping into my head," said Shirou firmly.

The newly named Konohana, or "Kono-chan" accepted the name. It wasn't like she cared what she was called.


	12. Chapter 12

Konohana and Sakura could not go more than a few miles, just barely enough to cover the distance between the house and the school, without there being an open strain between them.

On the plus side, within a few hours of the confusion over which is which, Konohana displayed an unusual ability. She lengthened her hair until it almost reached the floor while maintaining a similar hair style as the original Sakura, down to the ribbon. With her appearance suitably adjusted, and displaying a surprising knack for putting her dark aura on such a low burn civilians would miss it, she was quickly installed as Shamal's new 'assistant' so the boys would have someone they could go to for medical aide, as Shamal refused to do it. It was an odd arrangement, but it worked out.

However Reborn's mind was on another problem. Namely the arrival of the Varia. Colonello had spotted them early on, as he had been keeping a lookout for their arrival.

With how inefficient Iemitsu was, and the fact they had kept their arrival in Namimori so low key, it was unlikely anyone knew that there were three Arcobelano in the city, not the one.

Fon was perfectly happy to remain inside the compound of Shirou's home, and Colonello was busy at work upgrading the level of firepower of the bunker. If this was to be his new favorite student's home base then he was going to be armed for a damn siege! Especially if the Vongola were paying for the equipment!

They were waiting to see how this played out before they sent someone to add the computers, among other things. However the garage was fully stocked, because Shirou did have a hobby of tinkering with mechanics in his spare time, even if he didn't know how to drive one of the bikes very well.

Skull was rather eager to come and show him, but Reborn had put his foot down on that one.

Having three Arcobelano training them was already pushing it. Adding a fourth, even the weakest one, would be like putting a target on their backs they didn't need.

By nightfall, the Varia had spotted Taiga with the ring around her neck, along with Lambo.

Considering Iemitsu had clearly placed the title of "Primary Lightning" on Lambo for some insane reason, Reborn had Taiga as the brat's babysitter. That way she could claim decoy status until the inevitable ring battle when he made it clear that CEDEF had ignored the real guardian in favor of an untested child who had yet to kill anyone.

With any luck the judges would allow for both to enter the field. After all, nothing said that Taiga couldn't act as the placeholder until Lambo was old enough to appreciate the responsibility.

Mafia or not, expecting a five year old to understand and accept the full brunt of what a Guardian was expected to handle was Stupid on a level that was impossible to describe. Only the worst of familigias would even consider such a thing and force that sort of situation on a child, especially one like Lambo.

Hence why Reborn was more than happy to play the "placeholder" card. Even if it meant Lambo would be placed in the line of fire while Taiga fought in his stead.

* * *

Whatever the Varia mooks expected, a hungry Taiga with her favorite shinai and an oblivious Lambo was not it. She went through them faster than she did the Todd family.

They were still terrified of her.

"Fuji-nee! Lambo!"

Taiga turned and saw Shirou, heading with the others. She had sent out the distress call the second the Varia attacked, not that she needed the help.

A sudden aura of _death_ filled the air, followed by open blood lust. Shirou's eyes immediately looked up the hill to find a group of odd people, including the swordsman Kyouya bitched about over a week ago that made such a fuss.

"Shishishi..."

He took one look at the obvious leader with the feathers braided into his hair and a weird coon tail and knew without being told that this was a cold-blooded killer who had zero remorse in taking out his entire team just to get what he wanted. But at the same time there was a sense of absolute loyalty.

The wind shifted, and Shirou got a whiff of mixing scents. It took him a few moments to place them to the individual they belonged to.

The swordsman that showed up earlier had the scent of an acid rain, though the acid was more like what one used to etch into metal, and the rain was heavy, like a squall.

The blond with the crown smelled heavily of blood, steel, and the scent of a hurricane.

The one who had come after Taiga smelled like thick ozone.

The guy with the obviously dyed hair and sunglasses had a hard sunshine scent, though nowhere near as distinct as Reborn's. There was also the smell of medicines and metal, though not forged steel. He had the grace of a fighter, but he didn't feel like he used weapons. More like Ryohei.

The small miser smelled of frogs, money, and the heady scent of a thick morning mist or the thickest fog. In fact it was so strong that coupled with the small size Shirou knew for a fact this had to be the Mist Arcobelano, even if he couldn't see the pacifier. There was no way the smell of an Element could be _that_ strong with that appearance for it to be a coincidence.

The one in the mask didn't smell of the scent he had come to associate with Clouds. In fact he smelled more like Nono for some reason, but it was muffled by the armor. Shirou narrowed his eyes at the one holding the Arcobelano.

There was no way that thing was a Cloud.

The final one, the one that bothered Shirou the most was the leader.

Xanxus. Nono's remaining son, though he had the open belief that Xanxus _had_ to be adopted. He looked nothing like his brothers or Nono at an early age, and his mother only contributed half his genetics.

He smelled of rage, fire akin to a dragon's breath, Sky tainted with battle, and the heady scent of gunsmoke and forged metal. And he had the aura of an alpha tiger who knew damn well he ruled the forests and wasn't afraid to make everyone know it regardless of who got hurt.

Considering what he heard about the Cradle Affair, Shirou had a good idea of what sparked that particular incident and it had nothing to do with Xanxus wanting the throne a little early.

Xanxus looked and felt nothing like Nono. He was like a cub who had been thrown into the lion's pride, only to discover later in life he was born a tiger, not a lion and thus would never be allowed to lead the pride regardless of his accomplishments.

If Nono had failed to tell Xanxus that fact before he found out by accident when the heir started dying, coupled with the mess Iemitsu allowed to be created with his incompetence... it was no wonder Xanxus had gotten angry and decided to take action and his justified rage at being lied to for so long out on the one he felt was responsible. The fact Nono hadn't outright killed him for the offense meant that even he acknowledged he screwed up by keeping it quiet until it blew up in his face.

Though if Shirou found out that this entire nonsense had been accelerated because Iemitsu jumped the gun, he was so going to borrow Leon and hit the man as hard as he could with a Leon-frying pan. It wasn't like it would kill him and the jackass totally deserved it!

Hearing Reborn's fears come to roost, Shirou kept his silence and allowed his naturally calm personality to keep him from freaking out.

However the second they were in the house, he immediately said "Well this is a total set up."

Reborn paused.

"What?"

"Reborn, do you have any way of getting a hold of Nono from here on a secure line?"

"Why? At this point it's too late to get him to reconsider the battle, and now that the judges have arrived it would be too damaging to your potential rule if we try to convince Nono otherwise."

"Could you humor me? Call and ask why he suddenly lost his 'faith' in my abilities," said Shirou calmly.

Reborn looked at him oddly, but had Leon turn into a cell phone and dial Nono directly. He was one of the rare people who had this specific number. He had a brief conversation in Italian, and when he connected to Nono and asked what had changed his face went completely blank. He soon hung up and looked at Shirou with an odd expression.

"How?"

"What's wrong, kora?" asked Colonello.

"That was _not_ Timoteo on the other end. He used none of the approved codewords which only we had access to as they were never written down. And his voice was slightly off. How did you know that the order wasn't from him?" asked Reborn bluntly.

Shirou tapped his nose.

"When the wind shifted their scent came within range. One of them smelled wrong, for lack of a better word. And I'm almost positive that the smallest one among that group is the Mist Arcobelano," said Shirou bluntly.

Fon and Colonello stared at him baffled.

"Their scent tipped you off?!" said Colonello in disbelief. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"

"I agree, that does sound rather ridiculous."

"Well the one with the weird outdated gas mask smelled more like Nono and had none of the usual markers I associate with a Cloud, even if it was heavily muffled. And it was more that the scent of mist and fog was too dense to be a coincidence combined with their appearance that told me that the smallest member was one of you," said Shirou sheepishly.

"I believe him," said Reborn without hesitation. "Shirou's Magus senses allow him to 'smell' magecraft and apparently Dying Will Flames. He accurately identified anyone with Active or almost active Flames within a three hundred meter radius and their specialties. He knew before Hayato became an Active storm that he was a bomber who smoked the first time he met him, and that was _before_ Hayato challenged him and became his Storm Guardian. He also knows where Bianchi is at all times because he can smell her poisons on her."

"Really, kora?" said Colonello fascinated.

"Fon smells of Chinese oils, the heavy smell of a hurricane or a typhoon, and the scent of monkeys."

"What about me?" asked Colonello openly interested.

"Gunpowder, gun metal, a thick heavy deluge of rain, feathers, and heavy artillery."

Colonello definitely looked pleased with the description.

"And I'm fairly certain I've figured out why the Cradle Affair happened in the first place. Though a big part of it _is_ Iemitsu's fault," said Shirou bluntly.

"Explain your reasoning."

"Xanxus is the sort who wouldn't hesitate to murder if it meant protecting the Family, right? A sort of ultra hard ass when it comes to keeping it intact and strong?"

"That more or less describes his feelings to the Vongola," conceded Reborn. Hell, it damn near described his devotion to the Familigia to a "T"!

"Well how exactly would he feel about the way Iemitsu's incompetence allowed rats into the family? Because if how he handled my situation is any sort of measure, I don't see him doing a good job in keeping potential enemies out of the Vongola, even at the low levels," deadpanned Shirou.

Reborn didn't bother to wince. The fact was that it wasn't until Nono questioned Iemitsu's competence that a _lot_ of overdue house cleaning had taken place. The old man had been beyond unhappy learning how many had infiltrated the Familigia because Iemitsu wasn't doing his job properly.

"So you think Xanxus flipped when he found out that Iemitsu allowed rats into the family to the point it was infested?" said Colonello. It didn't really mesh that well.

"No, but I think he finally snapped when he figured something that had obviously been hidden from him. If I'm right it certainly explains a lot, like why Nono didn't kill him outright for the assault."

If they treated bastards like Hayato with such disdain and scorn, how would they treat those adopted into the Vongola? Nono clearly didn't care, and took in a Sky without caring about what people thought, but others wouldn't.

Shirou would bet his life Xanxus found out he was adopted by accident and it tipped him over the breaking point. So in order to get rid of the trash who infected his beloved Family _and_ get a straight answer regardless of the damage from Nono, he organized and staged the coup that was later called the Cradle Affair. It would make far too much sense.

If that was the case, Xanxus had no legitimate claim on the title of Decimo, and he was using this as a chance to deal a blow to Iemitsu for his stupidity and to make sure he took what he had hoped would one day be his.

And holding Nono hostage meant no one would figure out the trick until it was too late. If Kyouya accidentally destroyed the fake Cloud and it was revealed that Nono was inside, then _they_ would be in the wrong not Xanxus. It would solidify his position and no one would question his claim later.

It was a brilliant strategy...one which he voiced to Reborn.

"I agree. It would suit Xanxus' style of fighting. He would come up with a way to make it look like you killed Nono to solidify his claim and quiet the dissenters," said Reborn with a mixture of approval with an open scowl.

Didn't mean he liked the strategy, just that Shirou's idea wasn't _that_ far off the mark with something the volatile leader of the Varia would pull.

Shirou looked at Kyouya, who was already in a foul mood with these intruders being in his territory.

"If I'm right, it means you're going to have to crack open that thing to get the old man out. Without killing him, if possible."

Kyouya scowled, but nodded. He didn't really care about the ring or the title in the first place, but he _did_ care about being used like a puppet. The idea alone pissed him off.

"What about the 'infant' the fake was holding?" he asked Shirou.

"Again, it's mostly the strength of the scent and the fact they're the same size as these three that tells me it's the Mist."

"...It could be Viper. I mean if anyone would find a way to go to ground and hide from us, it would be them, kora," said Colonello.

Viper had taken the curse particularly hard and had been the most pissed off with Luce for it. And it wouldn't be that far fetched for them to change their name solely to hide while trying to find a way to break it...and then hold the cure over their heads for a massive sum of money and favors.

"So what's the strategy?" asked Shirou to Reborn.

"Standard rules apply, though the fights will be one-on-one for the Guardians of each side. Or two-in-one if the judges decided to allow Iemitsu's stupidity to stand. The same applies to Kono and Sakura. Officially they can act as observers, nothing more."

Which meant no help from the Arcobelano save for training, and Sakura wasn't officially part of their family just yet, even if she fit into the group seamlessly.

"Can you give us an idea of who will be up against who, and their likely fighting style?" asked Kyouya.

If they were trusting Shirou's weird sense of smell to tell them something was wrong, then he must have picked up more than the scent of 'sky' and an overpowering mist.

"Yeah, actually. The one with the dye job and glasses is a hand-to-hand fighter, but they also work in an infirmary and have a metal plate somewhere. I caught the scent of metal, but it wasn't forged steel. There was also a strong hint of sunshine, but nowhere near as powerful as Reborn is. The swordsman is a lot like Takeshi, except he doesn't smell of fish or hardened leather. More like etched metal that still has the lingering hint of the acid used to mark it and a heavy squall on the horizon mixed together."

"What about the blond?" asked Hayato. That one gave him the creeps.

"Blood, steel and a high level hurricane...and..." Shirou paused. It was silly and he didn't know whether he should mention it at all.

"What is it?" asked Reborn.

"I keep getting this creepy song in my head when I looked at him, almost like it's on a loop or something."

"A song?" repeated Reborn incredulous.

Shirou reached for his phone and started playing it. Taiga had gotten him hooked on the channel one night and this was one of the more popular songs.

It was the _Nightcore_ channel, and the song was labeled _"Hide and Seek"_. Even the cover art was creepy as hell.

" _Ding dong_

 _I know you can hear me_

 _Open up the door,_

 _I only want to play a little..."_

Just the opening verses pretty much set the tone of the song. By the time it ended Hayato's eyes were wide open in horror.

"That guy feels like the tone of that song?" he said in a choked voice.

"Again, I have no idea why other than while I was looking at him I kept hearing that song in my head for some reason," admitted Shirou.

"...Considering the teen is called Prince the Ripper and is the Storm officer, I'm not entirely surprised," said Reborn eventually.

Hayato was a mixture of horrified and resigned.

If they were pitting Guardian against Guardian, that meant _he_ was the poor bastard stuck with fighting the apparently deranged teenager who had a nickname like the Ripper Prince...


	13. Chapter 13

The Sun battle was interesting, but not as much as Shirou's open reaction to Iemitsu's presence.

The second Shirou saw him bringing Kyoko, his eyes saw red.

"Hey Reborn-sensei, can I borrow Leon for a moment?"

"I'm not letting you shoot Iemitsu, regardless of how much he deserves it," said Reborn without hesitation.

"I'm not going to shoot him. I'm not that kind hearted towards him," said Shirou in a flat voice.

Reborn allowed Leon to crawl onto Shirou's hand...and was hit with an epiphany of what the teen was planning to do to his 'father'. One that would likely hurt worse than being shot.

It was a frying pan.

"Of course the house husband picks a frying pan," muttered Colonello, eyeing the odd choice in weapon.

What happened next made Xanxus revise his opinion of Iemitsu's son.

Because the first thing Shirou does...is clock the man with the frying pan, before proceeding to give Iemitsu a very _nasty_ concussion while berating the man using a very large vocabulary of words that while hurtful, were still safe enough for children to hear.

"Feel better?" asked Reborn, when Iemitsu was reduced into a twitching mess on the ground.

"Much. Too bad Leon isn't a real cast iron skillet or maybe it would stick better," said Shirou darkly.

The chameleon had a rather put out expression on it's face, but doesn't give Shirou a dirty look.

The act stuns the Varia...though it does spark some curiosity in Xanxus that perhaps Iemitsu's son _wasn't_ trash like he automatically assumed. As an assassin, he had an eye for attacks and the kid's blows were powerful, precise, and were made without the hesitation of a civilian unused to real fighting.

This boy attacked with a familiar rage, but with the cool head of someone who was used to fighting. And the open confidence that he could do less damage without a gun but with something as mundane as a freaking frying pan intrigued him.

Then there was the Cloud kid. The brat was definitely a Cloud with that aura, and a particularly violent one Xanxus wouldn't have minded as his own Cloud Officer. He had the right violent aura for it.

And he was looking at the brat not with disdain or as a weaker creature, but as an equal.

And if that wasn't a major tell about the brat, then nothing was.

So Xanxus would see exactly what sort of Guardians the kid attracted.

The Sun kid was nothing special, outside of getting the Rain Arcobelano's attention and having a fixation on boxing.

But then came the Lightning battle.

"There can only be one Guardian per side," said the judge.

"I'm afraid there was a communication error when it came to the Lightning Guardian. The Head of CEDEF gave it to the secondary instead of the Primary without consulting me first," said Reborn.

"...Is the woman acting as proxy for the boy?" asked the Judge.

"For now anyway. Lambo will not be eligible as the official Lightning Guardian until he's at least sixteen," said Reborn calmly.

That was more than enough time to train him up into being able to handle the responsibility without forcing him to give up his childhood.

"Very well, they may both enter the field, but only the woman is allowed to fight on your behalf. Any objections?"

Xanxus smirked. The woman looked like a total civilian and all she had was that wooden sword in her hand that had a cute tiger charm. She'd go down easily.

"In that case, the Lightning Battle may begin," they announced.

And then the kid did something that turned the mere "civilian" into a damn tiger.

"Hey Fuji-nee... if you beat this guy I'll make all your favorites for dinner tonight," said the kid loudly enough that she heard him.

Xanxus blinked. He swore that woman's ear enlarged and swiveled much like a large cat...and then he heard her roar. The tiger comparison was pretty damn strong, especially with that shirt she was wearing.

And then Levi actually flinched. What the fuck?

The Bovino kid freaked when the girl went after Levi, and pulled out a bazooka of all things.

Fortunately for the brat, the kid dropped the weapon and it accidentally exploded hitting the insane woman who reminded him of a tiger.

There was a loud poof of smoke, followed by an older woman who looked enough like the insane one with the wooden sword. Was that the infamous Ten-Year Bazooka?

"Well that's almost unexpected," commented Reborn dryly. It was pretty obvious Iemitsu had been banking on the Ten-Year Bazooka for the fight, though why he thought Lambo would have the ability to take down a trained killer in five minutes or less was beyond him.

Ten Year Later Taiga looked at Shirou and grinned... but what she said next had him face-palming.

"Hi, Xanxus-kun!"

What.

Shirou looked closer at his insane "big sister" and noticed the wedding ring with a very official looking crest.

"Oh kami... I almost feel sorry for him, but he's probably _used_ to the crazy ones at this point..." he muttered.

Kyouya snorted in agreement.

"What are you waiting for, Tiger? Aren't you supposed to be fighting?" Kyouya deliberately called out.

Taiga bristled and the comparison to the large striped cat was impossible to ignore.

She reached to her side and pulled out a sword that had the familiar, if worn charm on the hilt. Except this wasn't some wooden shinai...no, this sword radiated blood lust on a scale that made even Squalo impressed.

The kid choked.

"Who the hell was stupid enough to give you a _Muramasa_?!" he said horrified. The Tora Shinai was terrifying enough without adding the inherit blood lust of a Muramasa sword!

"The only ones allowed to call me Tiger are Shirou-kun and Xan-kun!" said Taiga fiercely. Lightning struck the sword, because it was basically an oversize lightning rod in this storm.

Behind Taiga was a massive afterimage of a large tiger. With a loud, terrifying roar she charged at Levi-a-Than, the afterimage firmly in place. It almost looked like massive claws striking the Varia officer, and he barely shielded from it with his umbrellas. Not that it helped.

He felt the insane blood lust of the sword, combined with Taiga's natural insanity when it came to Shirou. As if the lightning had supercharged her strikes, she did not let up once as she expertly attacked the man.

It all ends when, as another thicker bolt of lightning hit Taiga, she used it's energy to augment her own Flames and paralyzed him long enough for her to claim the other half of the ring.

"The winner of the Lightning battle is Fujimura Taiga."

"Shirou! Dinner!" cried Taiga with a grin. Without much warning, she switched with her past self who looked at the ring she had dropped once put together and picked it up.

"Looks like I'm going to cooking a massive dinner tonight," said Shirou.

Taiga cheered, and collected Lambo who was quick to hug her. The Lightning ring was hanging around her neck.

Xanxus eyed the woman with an odd expression.

The woman was an interesting one, and he always liked tigers. That, and the fact she went from a crazy civilian teacher with a wooden sword to someone who could channel and use a real sword that made even him pause said volumes of her potential.

Though he was somewhat curious as to why she dared to call him "Xan-kun" when he was in earshot. Most women were either terrified of him, were total sycophants after something, or were just plain trash.

This Taiga however looked like Quality and he highly doubted she would be like the other women he had to be 'nice' around during those damn parties.

* * *

 _Back at the house..._

Reborn looked at Shirou with an odd expression.

"What exactly did you see when Taiga was switched out?"

"I'm fairly certain she ends up marrying Xanxus sometime in the future," said Shirou.

Reborn blinked.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because I don't see Xanxus letting someone call him 'Xan-kun' while he's in earshot without being shot at, at the very least. And someone had to have given her a Muramasa sword and show her how to use a real sword. Who better than the Rain Officer?"

Xanxus seemed like the sort of person who would give his girlfriend a sword made by one of the most infamous swordmakers in Japanese history as a gift or to court her. And who better to improve on her skills than the current Sword Emperor of the Varia?

Again, Xanxus was _used_ to crazies like Taiga, so the idea he married her wasn't _that_ far-fetched for Shirou to believe.

Reborn blinked.

"I thought you somehow recognized the Varia crest on the side of the ring," said Reborn.

"No, it was more how she acted and what she had that tipped me off."

Reborn snorted.

* * *

It was the Storm battle, and Shirou kept hearing that damn song in his head just looking at the grinning blond.

Finally he couldn't take it anymore.

"Why do I keep hearing the Nightcore song _Hide and Seek_ whenever I look at him?" asked Shirou pointing at Belphegor.

"Shishishi... what song is this?" asked the crowned teenager.

Shirou calmly took out his phone and started playing the song. There was something close to dead silence, before the Ripper Prince openly snickered with obvious delight.

"The Prince demands you share that song with him. He needs a better ringtone."

"...What's your number?" asked Shirou calmly.

Within moments Belphegor has a new favorite ringtone and Xanxus is once again reevaluating Shirou's ability as a Mafia Boss. It took someone with a very big pair of balls to calmly looked at Belphegor and exchange phone numbers with him. Most didn't even _want_ to associate with the psychotic prince brat.

More to the point, the bomber trash shows an actual spine and managed to hold his own until Belphegor's pride forced the brat to forfeit.

"Shishishi... the little lion is very interesting," said Belphegor, already loving his new ringtone. The creepy song suited him so perfectly it wasn't even funny.

Xanxus smirked.

This kid was completely different from the skittish kitten he had been informed of. He had despaired of any child sired by Iemitsu, especially one the idiot had sealed at such a young age, being able to lead the family out of the mire the old man had created with his soft-nature.

Instead the kid kicks Iemitsu out of the Ring Battles, making it impossible for him to stick around especially with that concussion. He motivates his Lightning proxy in a way that is bizarre, but terrifyingly effective. Xanxus' eyes didn't miss the ring on her finger, nor the fact that she was apparently _very_ familiar with him. And then he openly shares his number with _Belphegor_ and gives the Prince brat a new ringtone that suits him perfectly.

So now he was openly eager to see what else he was told wrong about this kid. If he was even half as good a fighter as he was interesting, then Xanxus _might_ concede the Sky Ring to the brat in a fight without a fuss. If not, then his original plan stayed the same.

The Rain battle was surprising, but Yamamoto wins for both himself and his sword style. Now the count is skewed towards Shirou and his team, but Xanxus refuses to acknowledge anything but an absolute defeat. He wanted to fight this kid and see whether or not he was worthy of the title Decimo.

Reborn apparently agrees with the idea, even if it meant they had to fight all the battles.

The Mist battle was a bit surprising... especially considering the fact that when Mukuro arrived, he actually gave Shirou a look of possible respect. Considering the original Mist guardian of the Primo's time turned out to be a traitor, Reborn hoped that he had interpreted that look right.

But it was the Cloud battle that they were all worried about. Kyouya was not known for being lenient when his battle lust was perked.

Kyouya did not like being played, and he trusted Shirou to be honest with him. Which is why he doesn't automatically target the rings. Instead his focus is entirely on cracking open the armor "Gola Mosca" is wearing.

With a loud crash, the armor split open...revealing the missing Nono barely alive.

"Tch. Looks like you were right," said Kyouya, collecting the half-ring. He glared at Xanxus. "I despise being set up with a lie. For that crime and the crime of disrupting the peace of Namimori, I will bite you to death."

"Winner, Hibari Kyouya."

Xanxus had a vicious grin on his face. Shirou sighed.

"You're really not helping the suspicion I have about why the Cradle Affair really happened," said Shirou exasperated.

If he was right and Xanxus was actually adopted, but was never told, then his anger towards Nono was justified to a point. But only to a point.

However since Kyouya did technically beat up Nono, despite the fact he was running on fumes, Shirou had to fight against Xanxus in order to keep his honor intact.

* * *

Shirou was in a specially made outfit, courtesy of Leon. Reborn thought it appropriate to have him dressed for the occasion.

He wasn't the only one, even Taiga had gotten a new outfit.

He did wonder why Reborn insisted on giving him the odd outfit in a burnt orange color with the Vongola crest on the back, along with an armored chest plate in deep black.

Then again he never saw the outfit he 'acquired' during the beat down of Mukuro. All he was familiar with were the two swords that he could now create in less than ten seconds.

"The battle between Xanxus and Shirou Emiya will now begin," announced the judge.

Shirou was not pleased with the fact they had poisoned his friends. Especially Lambo!

"Oh? I like that fire you have in your eyes, trash. You're interesting. Too interesting to be Iemitsu's spawn."

"I'm not Iemitsu's son. I refuse any connection to that parasite," said Shirou with his terrifying smile. It sent shivers down Xanxus' spine...a shiver that made him anticipate the fight to come. "My name is Emiya Shirou, son of Kiritsugu the Magus Killer. I don't know why people keep comparing me to that deadbeat, vagrant parasite who should just curl up in an unknown ditch and die."

Xanxus laughed, and it sounded like a real one.

He stared at Shirou and his _smiling_ face and saw something he never expected when he first came here.

This wasn't the smile of an innocent kid about to be slaughtered...this was the smile of a true predator, one that needed no titles to be acknowledged as Quality.

If the brat beat him and won, Xanxus would gladly acknowledge him as the new Decimo.

This boy wouldn't dull and lose his edge like Timeteo did. This boy...no, this man before him was a sword, one that would aim itself at the enemies of the Vongola and cut them down without hesitation if it meant protecting the Familigia.

But first he had to test the boy's Quality for himself. He would never be satisfied by a mere feeling.

 _Inside the spectator box..._

"You're not worried about Shirou?" asked Fon.

"The boy is a Sword. It's not in combat that I need to be worried about him."

"Sempai is kind. Too kind. He hates seeing those he could have Saved die in front of him. He needs those around him to shield him from the world or he will break," said Sakura in a matter of fact voice.

The world was not kind, and those who Saved others selflessly without demanding anything in return rarely lasted long. Humanity was suspicious of those with such altruistic motives, and were always looking for flaws.

The thing was that Shirou didn't Save others for money, fame or prestige.

Reborn had seen the look on Kiritsugu's face when he saved that small child from the blaze. The smile of a Hitman who had lost everything, but found Salvation in the simple act of saving a single life.

He could relate. He became a tutor for similar reasons, but unlike Kiritsugu he wasn't delusional about what he did or why he did it. If Shirou was going to walk the path of Ashura, then Reborn was going to make damn sure the boy lived something close to a full life.

He wouldn't always be happy, and he certainly wouldn't enjoy a peaceful existence, but he could at least go to the afterlife claiming he _lived_ and remember the one who helped him.

"Oh dear. Xanxus dared him to unleash his best. I think Shirou's about to use the Zero Point Breakthrough."

Squalo, who had been trapped inside with them because Dino took his time bringing him, had a horrified look on his face.

He didn't want his Boss to go through that ever again. He couldn't bear the idea of losing him a second time to that cursed technique.

Shirou clashed with Xanxus.

Well, the man wanted his best, but something told him not to use the technique Reborn all but demanded he learn. And there was a well hidden fear in Xanxus' eyes.

He had gone missing for almost eight years. Everyone assumed he was dead...and Timeteo was the last man to see him.

Was it possible he was somehow suspended in time with the technique Reborn wanted him to learn? Those scars were particularly telling. He recognized frost bite.

Besides, Xanxus wanted his best. It would be rude not to give him _Shirou's_ best, instead of the Vongola special technique.

His eyes became like amber, and for a brief moment there was an afterimage of a taller, more tanned male behind him with white hair and tired eyes.

" _I am the bone of my sword..."_


	14. Chapter 14

Dead silence. All that could be heard in this desolate landscape filled with swords like grave markers was the near silent creak of the giant gears in the sky. A sky that was an almost identical burnt orange to the one Shirou was wearing.

For a brief moment, things were quiet. As quiet as a battlefield when the last clash of weapons was heard, and the stillness briefly returned.

Xanxus had no idea how to react to this place. There was a sense of steel to the air, and the sky felt almost hollow.

But if one looked in the distance, past the landscape you could see clouds drifting serenely...before turning into a wild storm that threatened to overcome the void around him. Lightning hit attracted to the swords far away, while rain pounded the ground and turned the rusty remains of the blades into a bloody red. Above all an unforgiving sun loomed above.

It was a bizarre landscape he had never seen before.

"What the hell is this place?" he demanded of the silent sentinel that quietly stood watch.

"This is my world. A place where my power rules supreme over any Mist illusion your Arcobelano could conjure."

Reborn, freed from the containment cage, flew over.

"It's a reality marble. A representation of the world inside his soul, brought forth using magecraft forbidden by the Association. There's less than ten humans who could pull something off, and he's on that short list. This place is known as Unlimited Sky Works, though I have a feeling the name was originally something different," said Reborn.

Xanxus looked at the swords around him.

This was the soul of someone who he could relate to. A slow grin crept onto his face.

"Let's see what you can do with this...reality marble...Shirou."

What followed was rather brief, but highly enlightening.

He could follow this man as a Decimo. Of that he had no doubt.

Surrendering his half of the ring was easy, because the teen had earned his respect. Both as a man and as a fellow warrior who was in the wrong time.

* * *

"Voi. Someone mind explaining how we went from trying to kill each other to eating in the kid's house?" asked Squalo.

It wasn't that the food sucked... it was better than most restaurants he went to... but more confusion over how easily the kid accepted their presence in his home without any complaint whatsoever.

They had tried to kill his Guardians. Most people wouldn't automatically invite assassins into their home and offer them dinner!

Reborn smirked, and drank his coffee.

"He's going to do to you what's he's done to his Cloud Guardian."

"And what's that?" said Xanxus, already drinking from the kid's surprisingly well stocked liquor cabinet.

"He's going to convert you to his side with cooking and the ability to accept the craziness and move on," said Reborn.

"Shirou! More meat!" Taiga called out. She glared at Xanxus. He kept stealing from her plate.

"Hai, hai. Hayato-kun, why don't we drag out the grill instead?"

"At once, Shirou-sama!" said Hayato, bolting to get the grill out and get it started.

As Xanxus guzzled down his scotch, he couldn't help but wonder what the feeling in his chest was. It wasn't anger, he knew that feeling far too well. It wasn't hatred, disgust or any negative emotion.

It took him some time to place it...and only because he was watching as Shirou's Guardian's interacted with his. No, it was more with how they reacted around the brat who had beaten him.

He was...happy.

For the first time in a very long time, he didn't feel the need to throw something at others. In fact he couldn't recall the last time he felt this calm.

"He has that effect on everyone," said Reborn.

"What?" said Xanxus, not getting what the fake baby was saying.

"Shirou. It's like his Sky attribute is overpowered to the point it expands to include everyone who falls within his sphere of influence. He doesn't give a damn if you're a hit man, an assassin or someone from a bad home life. So long as those close to him are safe, he can accept almost anything. Rather frustrating, really."

Xanxus smirked.

"You tried to bring your chaos into his home and instead he turned that smile on you and ruined it."

"No, I used a Dying Will Bullet and instead of doing something like confessing to a girl in his class he fixed up the Tiger's scooter and then proceeded to make dinner," said Reborn. He enjoyed the choke from Xanxus.

"You're kidding."

"I wish. The kid has a weird sense of 'regret' to the point every time I use one I just keep asking myself _why_?" said Reborn with a scowl.

"Oi! Quit stealing my food!" shouted Taiga.

"Make me, trash."

 _Two minutes later..._

"How the hell did we end up in the dojo? And why is he going along with this?" asked Levi.

Squalo smirked.

"I bet you a hundred he ends up with that crazy girl. I don't think I've ever seen the Boss this interested in a chick in a while."

"Considering the ring she was wearing when hit with the bazooka, I wouldn't be shocked if he ends up marrying her. She comes from a long line of yakuza and is only allowed to be my Lightning because her father is learning under her grandfather," said Shirou dryly, sharing the pot of tea with the others. Colonello was arguing the merits of spices on steak with Fon of all things and took over the grill.

"Mu. Share the tea please," said Mammon.

"I have strawberry flavored tea, if you want some. Fon mentioned you like them," said Shirou.

"...Yes, please."

"You're so much politer than Reborn. I have blackmail pictures."

An evil smirk appeared on Mammon's face.

"And I like you more than the current boss of the Vongola already."

"That seems to be a reoccurring theme. How much would it cost to do a little... spring cleaning once I take over?"

"Oh, and what exactly would this cleaning entail?" asked Squalo, a smirk spreading across his face.

Shirou's smile never wavered.

"Why making sure all the rats and other vermin are disposed of in the Family. I could care less what someone's background is, but I won't abide disloyalty and liars. I'm sure your Boss would love to have first crack at them since the parasite failed to do his damn job," said Shirou smiling. You could almost see the sparkles around him.

Reborn smirked.

"That's surprisingly ruthless of you, Shirou. I approve."

"While I'm not exactly enthusiastic about the whole mafia thing, I see no reason why we can't be civil about it. Though there are going to be certain...rules... I planned to implement. And a few practices stomped out."

"Like what?"

"Human trafficking, a tighter restriction on the drug trade within reason, and unwilling human experimentation. If I tried to wipe out all the darkness in the mafia I'd simply wipe myself out of energy within no time. However reforming it so it's not so depressing would be a good step forward. I also don't agree with the way the Familigias treat bastards, simply because of their birth. Who cares if their parents weren't married so long as they're loyal and can hold their own when the Family needs them?"

"Shishishi... I think even the Boss would agree with that."

Considering what he found out after the Cradle Affair, and the way the Sky battle ended as Xanxus handed over the ring, Squalo knew the Boss wouldn't mind it at all.

Shirou had more or less confirmed he wasn't a total idiot because he had suspected something was up after hearing about the incident. And without even asking questions he guessed the true cause for Xanxus going after Nono.

As someone who was adopted himself and who preferred that name over the one his 'parents' gave him, Shirou could understand Xanxus very well.

It was annoying, feeling like the outsider in a place you were more or less forced to live in after being in your home turf.

On the plus side, the Varia left after giving Shirou their direct contact number. Belphegor looked both amused and pleased having someone new to bug. Xanxus was just happy he got a similar agreement that Kyouya got.

Shirou would call him in for the good fights he wasn't sure he'd survive and wait for them to show up. Though he wasn't the only one baffled that Xanxus gave him his old guns, since apparently he had been planning to make a new pair.

Shirou took the holsters Reborn got him and made sure they were well hidden by his pants. He wasn't one to turn down something like that because he preferred his bow and arrows.

* * *

It was such a peaceful day...right up until Lambo decided to throw a fit and shoot the ten year bazooka.

Except this time, Reborn kicked it at the worst time and caused it to fly towards him instead. For some reason he was unable to move, and with a loud poof he disappeared.

Shirou knew _something_ had to be wrong, because Reborn's future self didn't automatically show up.

Rather than panic, he waited the required five minutes before calmly going into his room and grabbing the backpack Colonello insisted he wear every time he went through an obstacle course...which was usually filled with a lot of heavy things, but rarely anything useful... and emptied it out. He then filled it up with things that could come in handy wherever he ended up.

Things like a portable stove, dehydrated foods, a combat knife (which was promptly placed into his boot), one of the long range rifles broken down into it's components, ammunition, a fully stocked first aid kit, the solar-powered charger for his cell, three full canteens full of fresh water, some spare change in clothes, and a tablet that could be charged with the same charger for his phone.

The tablet was more for entertainment and signaling. He needed something to read to kill time, after all.

That done, he sent a mass text to his Guardians and then proceeded to shoot himself with the ten year bazooka once he was sure Fon and Colonello could watch the kids for him.

The two Arcobelano had been just as alarmed as he was when Reborn didn't return, so they were naturally concerned about where he was and what happened to him.

Shirou found himself in an enclosed space, glad that his backpack wasn't crushing him. With a little effort he was able to remove the lid...of a coffin.

Right, the Vongola were Italian so they buried people rather than cremated them. Shirou's stance on faith was rather simple.

He would show proper respect to whatever deities his friends worshiped along with any holidays, but don't expect him to suddenly convert. He didn't know if the gods were real, but he felt it safer just to go with it and humor people.

"Who's there?"

Shirou blinked, and saw...an older Hayato.

"Jyuudaime!"

"Gokudera-kun?" he said in confusion. Playing the "confused" card seemed like a safe bet to getting answers.

He had already started the timer on the watch Reborn had given him for Christmas, mostly to time how long he had before the five minutes were up. He had jokingly mentioned they might as well start using a stop watch with how often Lambo threw a fit and used the bazooka. Hence why Reborn gave him a watch capable of handling damn near anything.

Hearing the watch go off, Shirou sighed.

"Looks like I'm stuck here. Any idea where Reborn is?" asked Shirou.

Before Gokudera could answer, his past self was suddenly switched over.

"Jyuudaime!"

This was going to get repetitive fast.

And there was something off about Gokudera. He seemed to think Shirou was made of glass or something, or at the very least about to have multiple panic attacks.

He was starting to get a bad feeling about this.

Seeing Lal Mirch, Shirou barely refrained from growling...mostly because he was perfectly aware that Lal worked for the asshole.

At least he was able to go into Dying Will Mode long enough to satisfy her, though he was started to suspect something had gone wrong when he was hit with the bazooka.

As in he was in the wrong future wrong. He knew a bit more about the bazooka than most, partially because he highly doubted the thing _only_ drew from the future. That way could lead to far too many paradoxes for a Counter Guardian to _not_ be sent at some point and the entire thing destroyed along with the plans for it.

It made far more sense for it to draw from multiple futures, because then the paradox risk was so low it wasn't worth considering.

At least he avoided the mistake Gokudera had made. His nose had caught the scent of fresh water, and he knew Lal wouldn't really expect a pair of city kids to find food in the forest on their first try.

Meaning she wanted to scout or take a bath. He still enjoyed the look of shock both had when they came back and found him starting a basic broth, which he quickly added the fish Lal caught to.

"I didn't know you could cook!" said Gokudera, openly impressed.

And that right there cemented his suspicions.

Hearing something crash nearby, Shirou turned to face whatever was coming.

It looked like the Gola Mosca Xanxus had brought to the Cloud battle, except these were more advanced.

He sighed, and noted with some annoyance Gokudera clearly expected him to freak out. Was his other self really that skittish around new things?

"Shit it's coming this way! Do either you have Rings other than the Vongola Rings?" demanded Lal.

Shirou blinked.

"Well I have this one that Lancia gave me for giving Mukuro a beat down for him..." said Shirou slowly.

The man had been too injured by the time Kyouya was done with him to give it to him before. It was only because Shirou could see he wasn't in control of his actions that he lived long enough to get treatment at all.

"You idiot! Why didn't you say anything?!" shouted Lal panicking.

Before Shirou had a chance to remove his rifle and take out the heads, he heard another familiar voice. It was Takeshi.

He couldn't help but feel as though he had to deal with a very big headache explaining things to them before they got trigger happy. Especially Reborn.

Reborn's attack was dodged with ease, and the first thing he did upon landing was aim the Leon-gun at him.

"Who are you? Dame-Tsuna _never_ dodges my attack."

Shirou looked vastly irritated.

"You should be glad I didn't elbow you in the damn eye. And I am Tsuna, just not the one you're familiar with."

"Explain, now," said Reborn, his face dark. He was not happy.

"Boss?"

"What do you know about the ten year bazooka? And I don't mean the fact that it switches you with your older self for five minutes," he said calmly.

"There's more to that damn thing?!" said Gokudera, looking confused and worried.

"The bazooka draws from more than _just_ the future when it switches someone around. I've found out it draws from multiple futures. From what I can tell your Tsuna got hit the same time I was and our destinations were mixed up by mistake. It might resolve itself once this mess is cleared up, or we could just create enough chaos to draw out a multiverse traveling pain in the ass and hope he's in a good enough mood to switch us back," said Shirou. He made a face. "I'm really hoping to avoid drawing Zelretch here. You're bad enough to deal with, and your brand of chaos is relatively tame from what I've heard of him."

Reborn looked him in the eye...before Leon switched back to his chameleon form.

"I believe you."

"What?" said Lal incredulous.

"This is clearly not Tsunayoshi, but he has the Ring. And I can't sense any lies from him. Besides... even I've heard of Zelretch," said Reborn. Then he gave Shirou an odd look. "What do you mean my brand of chaos is relatively tame?"

Shirou had an evil smirk on his face.

"Try hitting me with a Dying Will Bullet. I gave my Reborn headaches every time he used it on me. He gave up after three months of it."

"If you're not Tsuna-kun, what should we call you?" asked Takeshi.

"Shirou. Shirou Emiya. Because honestly the idea of being reminded I'm related to that damn parasite makes me want to vomit," said Shirou.

"Sounds like you don't like Iemitsu," said Reborn.

"You gave me a dictionary and told me to look up as many words to describe him as a way to vent how much I detest his stupidity. It took me a week and I have a very extensive list of things that are child-friendly that Lambo, I-Pin and Fuuta can hear without getting into trouble for," deadpanned Shirou.


	15. Chapter 15

The smell of something heavenly filled the base. It drew everyone out of their beds, especially Reborn who smelled coffee.

"Who cooked this?" asked Takeshi. It was a basic breakfast, but it was delicious and very filling.

"Where's that Shirou guy?" asked Gokudera. He couldn't trust someone who looked so much like his Boss but wasn't.

"Where's who?" asked Shirou. He was dressed in a mechanic's overalls and he had some grease on him.

"Where were you?" asked Reborn, eyeing him oddly.

"Found the garage. Whoever tunes up your bikes needs to learn how to do it properly. They would have needed maintenance in a few months," he said absentmindedly. "By the way, you're doing to dishes. No way am I going to handle that on top of cooking breakfast."

"...You cooked this?" said Reborn.

"If you have a preference, let me know so I can get groceries for it later," said Shirou.

"You can cook?" said Gokudera staring.

"I'm guessing in your timeline Tsuna had a decent relationship with Nana?" he asked tiredly. As if it was a subject he'd rather not bring up.

"We've been keeping her out of the loop."

"Well in my timeline I moved out of the house before the ring battles and I cut all ties with her and Iemitsu. It was difficult keeping up the facade that everything was normal when she had no idea how to deal with a teenager who was more used to living alone and taking care of the adults than being coddled. Iemitsu's stupidity by dragging me out of the home I had made for myself without giving me a choice didn't help matters at all. She really didn't know how to handle the fact that I basically took over the kitchen from her," said Shirou.

"Sounds like you have a strained relationship with them," said Reborn.

"More like nonexistent. I was a stranger in her home who had the face of her son and we both knew it. Iemitsu dragged me out of my home and dumped me on a woman I didn't remember, despite the fact my adopted older sister made it clear I had amnesia after the fire to the point I couldn't even remember my own name, much less my own history. He only found me because he actually bothered to get off his ass and investigate whether the death of the Magus Killer was legitimate and happened to see me in the funeral pictures."

Lal snorted.

"Sorry, but I can honestly believe he would do something like that. The bastard is a total idiot who rarely bothers to do his job properly and I can actually see him displacing his own son from a home he's made for himself purely because he thinks keeping Tsuna with his mother will keep him safe from the mafia," said Lal in disgust.

"You can see why I finally snapped when he showed up with the rings two days before Basil came with the fakes and left home permanently," said Shirou dryly.

Reborn eyed Shirou. For some reason he liked this kid more than Tsuna. He was calm and had the right attitude for a Mafia Boss. But there was something off about him he was hard put to explain.

"So what are we supposed to do now?"

"Lambo and I-Pin went to get Haru and Sasegawa. We should have heard back from them by now," said Takeshi.

Shirou had a feeling they meant Kyoko. He didn't think Ryohei would be that easy to find.

"Let me get showered and changed. If things are really this bad we should probably be prepared for a fight," said Shirou.

Less than seven minutes later, Shirou was ready to go. He had something on his back that had the others staring, especially Reborn.

"Is that a bow?" said Gokudera incredulous.

Shirou rolled his eyes.

"You really want me to demonstrate my aim in enclosed quarters? You sound just like Reborn the first time he saw me with them," said Shirou. "Besides, people don't tend to take you seriously with a bow. It makes it easier to snipe them."

"This I have to see, but I'm hoping we can recover the girls without trouble," said Takeshi laughing.

Shirou merely smiled. Why did no one take the simple bow and arrow seriously?

"Besides, if I run out of arrows I can always use these," he said.

That stopped the laughter cold.

"...Are those Xanxus' guns?" said Gokudera in shock.

"Let's just say I made an impression on him and we ended up exchanging phone numbers. He likes me more than Iemitsu or Nono at any rate."

"Can you even shoot?" asked Lal skeptically.

Shirou looked at Reborn. He handed him one of his spare guns, curious to see how well this alternate could shoot.

Shirou took aim with the pistol and fired a single shot.

Three strands of hair from Lal fell to her shoulder.

"I _never_ miss."

Reborn was positively grinning now. He really liked this kid, he honestly did.

* * *

"So Tsuna had the rings destroyed to try and keep things from getting worse? If this Byakuran managed to kill the Arcobelano I don't blame him," said Shirou.

"Which is why we need those from the past to handle this mess, because we need the rings," said Takeshi.

"Well that explains how Gokudera-kun got hit. Someone must be sending them here," said Shirou.

"You're surprisingly calm about this," said Takeshi while Gokudera gave both of them foul looks.

"You'd be surprised how quickly one adapts when a Flame Seal is forcibly removed when you're seven," deadpanned Shirou. "Kiritsugu was a good assassin and a better father than Iemitsu, but he couldn't cook worth a damn, never mind the house hold chores. And don't get me started on how bad a teacher he was. Besides, I've dealt with Fuji-nee going overboard so often I ended up being the mature one."

Gokudera nearly tripped.

"A seal?"

"Iemitsu, in his infinite stupidity, had Nono seal his son at the age of five because he awakened his flames early. Imagine what that would do to a child who has no idea what's going on with Vongola Hyper Intuition, never mind what happens when you seal a Sky Flame that young. I'm not entirely shocked your Tsuna is so skittish and cowardly considering I had to go through hell to get mine removed," said Shirou bluntly. His face went into a scowl. "Iemitsu was too damn lazy to even bother having someone train his son or bother to be there when the kid needed him."

Gokudera thought back on the shock Tsuna had on his face when he heard his father was coming home, and suddenly a lot of things made sense. No wonder Tsuna was so terrified of minor things.

"If you want my advice Gokudera, ease up on the whole 'boss' and trying to pressure him into being the Decimo. Having someone to be there for you as a _friend_ first will make a major difference. Try listening to him for once and being encouraging without reminding him he's doomed to being a mafia boss. Though my Storm guardian had to have a talk from Reborn before he stopped treating his life as worthless if it meant serving his Sky," said Shirou bluntly.

"...I'll keep that in mind."

Hearing the explosion, they all raced to find the girls and Lambo.

"Well Shirou, time to see how well you can fight!" said Takeshi grinning.

Shirou drew his bow and pulled back with his arrow. There was a yell of surprise and pain.

"What the actual fuck? Who shot that?" yelled the one with the scythe.

Shirou didn't let up, sniping with his arrows. Every one of them either drew blood or made a hit. Takeshi whistled with appreciation.

"Kyoko! She was thrown away in the blast!" shouted I-Pin.

"Gokudera, protect the girls. I'll go find Kyoko-san," said Shirou.

"R-right!" said Gokudera. He was still having trouble trusting this guy, but Tsuna would never forgive him if anything happened to Kyoko.

Shirou used his nose to find Kyoko.

"Tsu-kun?"

"You alright?" he asked.

"I think I sprained my ankle. How strange...it feels like you're a kid again," she said smiling.

"So you're the brat who was using those damn arrows," growled a pissed off voice behind them.

Shirou only briefly looked behind him when he heard the familiar "poof!" of the ten year bazooka. Someone was definitely sending people into the future...likely to motivate this Tsuna into actually fighting.

"Tsuna-kun?" said Kyoko in confusion.

"Don't worry, Kyoko-san. I'll keep you safe," said Shirou smiling. She blushed, though he was used to that reaction. Girls always blushed around him for some reason. It was weird. He looked at the man before him. He couldn't let him get past him to the girl. _"Trace, on."_

Kanshou and Byakuya appeared in his hands as an orange flame burned merrily on his head. The archery gloves turned into their battle form.

"Oh-ho... so the little archer thinks he can take me on with swords..." sneered the fool before him. He looked amused at the 'sloppy' stance the brat before him had.

Shirou said nothing, but the suddenly attack from above certainly caught the man off guard.

The sneer turned to shock as Shirou proceeded to kick his ass. As he flew above, he noted that Lambo, I-Pin and Takeshi had been switched out as well.

The man and his friend were taken aback when Shirou threw both swords, before launching even more arrows. He used multiple trick shots to distract them from the boomerang effect the two swords had on each other.

The damage from that was enough that they made a retreat, rather than challenge the kid with the arrows.

He landed a bit roughly, but considering the state of the floor that was to be expected.

"Tsuna-kun?" said Takeshi looking very confused.

"We need to return to base. It's too dangerous, especially since that battle will have gotten a lot of attention," said Shirou. He let his battle mode drop.

"Right!" said Gokudera, already picking up Lambo.

* * *

"What the hell is going on?" demanded Haru.

"Impressive. Very impressive," said Reborn, watching the footage.

"So you're not Tsuna?" asked Takeshi, looking very confused.

"I'm not _your_ Tsuna. He's likely with my Guardians, though knowing Taiga she'll overwhelm him in less than an hour," said Shirou.

Lambo and I-Pin didn't really get it, but they knew that this "big brother" was nice and didn't think them a nuisance. Shirou deftly got Lambo to calm down and was able to speak to I-Pin in her native tongue and had them situated with an anime that had Chinese subtitles for I-Pin, since Lambo could speak Japanese. The little bull was one happy camper with his bowl of grapes, just like I-Pin was merry eating some Chinese snacks.

"So..."

"Just call me Shirou. Your Tsuna will likely be returned by the time this is cleared up," said Shirou wisely.

Takeshi and the girls stared, before the Rain laughed.

"I can work with that! So this is part of the game, right?" he asked.

Shirou smiled.

"Something like that," he agreed.

Somethings never changed at all.

"What is going on?!" demanded Haru.

Shirou looked them both in the eye and they shivered. There was something different about him.

"You were switched out with your future selves with a device called the ten year bazooka. Likely to motivate your version of Tsunayoshi Sawada into actually fighting, since from what I've gathered he's a bit skittish and still getting used to actually having to fight. Because of that you're going to be targeted, so I'd advise staying inside unless you don't mind having an escort above," said Shirou bluntly.

"What do you mean 'our version'?" repeated Haru. She was just glad he was being honest with them.

"The bazooka doesn't just draw on the future, it also draws on parallel worlds. Otherwise the paradox effect would be too high to ignore. I was hit at the same time as your Tsuna, so our destinations were apparently mixed up. If it helps you can just call me Shirou instead of Tsuna," he patiently explained.

That seemed to calm Haru and Kyoko down.

"You're rather good at this," said Reborn.

"I have that sort of effect. I can have the Varia over at my home for dinner and not have them destroy the house," said Shirou shrugging. "It baffled Squalo quite a bit, since Xanxus wasn't pissed at being beaten and forced to hand over his half of the ring."

Shirou suddenly smiled and the girls both blushed heavily.

"Well, how about dinner? If you have any favorites speak up now," he said with a grin.

"We can help!" said Haru quickly. Kyoko nodded.

"Takeshi-kun, could you switch the disk over when it's finished? It's easier to cook while the kids are distracted," said Shirou.

"Sure," said Takeshi smiling. This Shirou guy sure was reliable.

Reborn stared, he couldn't help it. This version of Tsuna was totally domestic!

"Anyone else drooling?" asked Gokudera.

"Reborn is," said Lal smirking.

Reborn looked and there was drool on his face. That was new.

"This is soooo good!" said Haru once the food was on the table.

"It really is!" said Kyoko.

"Food!" said Lambo. I-Pin cheered as well, sitting next to Shirou. He was smiling as he conversed in Chinese with her.

Reborn was the only one who understood that Shirou was offering to be her sparring partner later.

"Ah, that reminds me. Lal, you were the one who trained Colonello, right?" said Shirou.

She almost flinched at the name.

"I was."

"Mind helping me out with my training later? Colonello was more interested in increasing my stamina and ability to handle harsh environments on top of getting me acquainted with fire arms. And Fon was mostly helping me with my hand to hand."

She stared at him.

"Fon _and_ Colonello were training you together?" she said in shock.

"I think Colonello was beside himself when he found out I was a natural sniper and could handle his worst. He said you were better at whipping rookies into shape, though. I'm sorry to hear about what happened."

Lal was silent.

"Well it seems you're at least competent in how to fight. I can't say the same for these two though. Can you even ignite the rings?"

"I did it earlier," said Gokudera.

"You mean like this?" asked Shirou. "Reborn was surprised the first time I did it."

Lal stared.

"Alright I'll train you. But I'm not going to go easy on you. Any of you."

Shirou hid a grin hearing that. Gokudera and Takeshi had no idea what they were in for, and Lal was vastly underestimating him already.


	16. Chapter 16

"Kyoko-chan is missing!" said Haru panicking.

"I know, she left through the fourth door early this morning. I think she went to get some things from home," said Shirou.

"And you let her?!" said Gokudera pissed.

Shirou gave him a flat look.

"Unlike me, she had no idea she was going to be pulled away so abruptly. And frankly I wasn't going to ask why she needed...supplies. There are some things a boy is better off not asking about."

Sometimes he really hated his overpowered sense of smell. He really, really did.

"I don't get it," said Gokudera.

Haru however figured it out what he was talking about pretty quick. Her face was red all over.

"How the hell did you..."

"My sense of smell is a bit weird. Like I said, I wasn't going to ask, much less talk about it openly. I do have some sense of privacy," deadpanned Shirou.

"Yeah, I can see why she had to leave for supplies. I didn't see anything for that in the bathroom either," said Haru blushing horribly.

Reborn hid his face, as he cottoned on to what Shirou was not saying.

"I still don't get why she left so abruptly."

"Who left?" asked Takeshi.

"Lal, would you like to have the honors of explaining that time of the month to Gokudera since he apparently doesn't understand why Kyoko was in a rush to leave this morning?" asked Shirou bluntly.

She blinked, before looking at the suddenly flushing Storm.

"Seriously? How do you even know that's why she left?"

"She was dragged away from her time without any warning, so she was obviously not prepared for it. I had a feeling that's why she left the base, to get certain... supplies. Still, considering the increasing number of thugs in the area it would probably be best if a few of us went to retrieve her," said Shirou.

"I'll go!" said Gokudera, his face still red as a tomato.

"We have an incoming transmission! It's Hibird!"

Shirou was so going to tease Kyouya horribly for that name. It was adorable and downright hilarious.

"Where is it?" asked Shirou.

"It's the Shrine! The transmission went down over there!"

"What do we do?" said Gokudera.

Shirou mentally went over his options.

"Gokudera and I can go to the shrine to find Hibari, Takeshi and Lal can retrieve Kyoko."

"Explain your reasoning," said Reborn, wondering at the odd match up.

"Well if I remember right, Gokudera isn't that enthusiastic about being around Takeshi and might get into an argument at the worst time, especially if someone else picked up that transmission. And I don't need to be close to do damage. Besides, while Takeshi is a good fighter, we might need his Rain flames to calm Kyoko down and extract her. And Lal is used to rookies, so she won't have as much trouble working with him, even if he does make mistakes," said Shirou flatly.

"I can handle this myself!" said Gokudera, not liking the idea of being around Takeshi.

"Case in point," said Shirou dryly.

"Very well. Shirou and Gokudera will find Hibari-san while Lal and Takeshi get Kyoko and return," said Reborn. "However I doubt your arrows will be of much use in those woods."

"Which is why I'm bringing something with a bit more kick to it," said Shirou. "If all else fails I'll just use my swords."

Reborn seemed pleased, if a bit confused about the swords.

"Is that acceptable to you, Lal?"

"It's fine," she replied. She could work with the baseball brat for a short period if it meant getting this over with.

* * *

Rather than go outside to reach the shrine, Shirou immediately lead Gokudera to another part of the base.

"What are you doing?"

"I know Hibari," said Shirou bluntly. "Here it is."

"A secret door?!" said Gokudera in shock.

"Hibari would have had Tsuna install a door where he could cut off the other Guardians and not feel crowded. And with how fond he is of the shrine, it's obvious he would have his entrance lead out through there. Besides, I can smell the scent of clouds and mist from here," said Shirou.

"Your nose is seriously terrifying," said Gokudera.

Shirou suddenly thought of something that might win the Storm Guardian over.

"I also forgot to mention something you might find interesting."

Gokudera looked at him.

"I'm Bianchi repellent."

He stopped cold.

"What."

"Your sister learned the hard way to stay the hell out of the kitchen when I'm around, to the point she avoids me since I really dislike her method of killing," deadpanned Shirou. "And she reeks of poisons, so I always know where she is to the point I throw things in her direction if she's near me. Where I come from, she makes a point to steer clear of me and never uses her poison cooking whenever I'm around."

His face was hidden, but Shirou was fully prepared for the tackle.

"Teach me how to do that!" he said crying.

And once again he secured Gokudera's loyalty. The trauma of Bianchi and the ability to keep her away was a powerful thing.

"Want me to teach you how to cook real food and not microwaved? That way you won't have to worry about eating her cooking ever again."

"Please!" begged Gokudera.

"And we're here," said Shirou. He suddenly stopped Gokudera from going outside. "There's someone out there. Active Flames, really strong. Lightning, I think."

Gokudera blinked.

"You sure?"

"Reborn and my father have both said I'm a damn bloodhound. Trust me, there's someone there."

The Storm looked dubious.

"Prove it."

"You smell of gunpowder, cigarettes, explosives, lingering poisons, and the smell of an oncoming storm."

"Lingering poisons?" repeated Gokudera, not liking the sound of that.

"Sometimes it takes a while for a poison to leave the body, and if I remember correctly you once told me she forced you to eat her weapons repeatedly, and under orders. It's part of the reason she avoids me, because I don't like the fact they let that happen to you."

Shirou saw something that had him frown.

"There. See them?"

Gokudera nodded.

"What do we do?"

Shirou grinned, and Gokudera found it rather infectious.

"Why ruin their day of course~!"

"You sound way too much like Reborn."

"Considering what I'm about to do, that's probably a good thing. Get ready to throw some smoke bombs. I'll take to the sky and really give them something to worry about."

"What are you planning?"

"Just watch."

Gokudera stared at the massive freaking rifle Shirou casually put together with an evil grin on his face. And then proceeded to snipe at the weaker morons with to draw out the bigger fish of a Lightning.

He took the signal with ease, and watched as Shirou took off into the air to hide where he was shooting from, looking far too much like Colonello in the process.

Actually, he looked terrifyingly like Colonello, complete with camo bandanna (where the fuck had he gotten that?!) and the pin on the side with "27" written on it, complete with rifle as he had an evil grin on his face.

(When Lal saw the cameras outside the shrine she actually choked, because Shirou looked way too much like Colonello for her to take.)

And then Shirou proved he was a Vongola through and through, regardless of how domestic he acted. And yes, Gokudera wasn't the only one who did a double take seeing him act like a damn house husband while caring for the younger kids. Reborn looked just plain confused.

Gokudera would openly admit to grinning like a mad man, since Shirou made sure not to aim anywhere near him. He held the ground while the other ruled the sky. Even if the recoil of the massive rifle tended to make him fly backwards a bit every time he fired.

It took the Lightning guy a second to realize Gokudera was the weaker of the two and focus more on him.

Too bad Hibari was attracted by the racket and showed up before he could do more than throw him around a bit.

Though what Shirou said next made him stare. He wasn't the only one.

"Oi, Kyouya, what took you so damn long? Did you get lazy without a real opponent to play with?" said Shirou grinning.

Hibari glared at him, and Shirou blew a raspberry at him.

* * *

It was official. Shirou Emiya had balls of damn _steel_. Even he was terrified of an irritated Hibari Kyouya.

Kyouya looked at the other Small Animal with irritation. The brat was far too familiar with him and there was something off about him. He could believe that _his_ Tsunayoshi had apparently suffered the bad luck of having the destination mixed up. His luck was that chaotic.

But this Shirou Emiya showed zero fear towards him, and it pissed him off. Besides, he caused a _lot_ of damage to the shrine with those damn shots of his. For that crime alone Hibari would gladly bite him to death.

"Small animal, for disturbing the peace I'm going to bite you to death."

Shirou smirked.

"Well how else was I supposed to get you in the mood. To be honest it's kind of boring around here without your chaos around."

Hibari twitched in annoyance.

He charged at the small animal who pissed him off.

" _Trace, on."_

Twin swords appeared, and to the collective shock of the Namimori natives Shirou was able to _fight back_ against Hibari. No, he was actually beating the irritated Cloud while grinning at the same time.

Hibari would never admit it out loud, but he was starting to lose his annoyance. It had been some time since he found anyone who could match him, much less keep up and not take it personally.

"Holy shit...is he actually winning against Hibari?!" said Takeshi, not even realizing he swore in front of kids.

"What kind of style is that?" growled Reborn. It left so many obvious holes it was downright suicidal.

Hibari managed to kick Shirou to the wall, but the grin on his face said volumes. The boy was openly having fun 'playing' with the irritated Cloud. Hibari came at him again, but before he came too close to Shirou, there was a massive "poof!" of smoke that looked nothing like the ten year bazooka being used. In fact it had multiple colors, not just pink.

There was a low growl, and Hibari wasn't the only one staring at who appeared.

"Kyouya! OW!" complained Shirou.

"Shirou. You owe me food and a fight. Thanks to you the discipline was thrown out in favor of chaos and the others have been crowding me for over a week," growled Kyouya. He said, not apologizing for hitting the idiot on the head with his tonfa.

"How is this possible?" said Reborn.

Hibari was staring at his younger self with open shock. He couldn't even hide it.

"How did you get here?" he asked, in open disbelief.

"Wao. Some carnivore with red eyes and fangs came looking for Shirou. When he found out several were missing he told me that there had apparently been a mix up of some kind and he was here to correct it."

"Zelretch. Of course he would be drawn to this mess," sighed Shirou. He had never met the Dead Apostle Ancestor and master of the Second True Magic, but Reborn had told him horror stories. "Who else is coming?"

"He said he's sending the Hibari Kyouya from here in my place while I took his. That way Tsunayoshi Sawada would be adequately protected and make it easier to find us a second time so he can switch us back. But he did say he might stick around."

"Just what we need... a damn multiverse traveling vampire troll with a penchant for magical girl series," groaned Shirou. "As if Reborn needed more ideas."

Hibari seemed to get over his shock, because he growled and came after the two. He did not like being ignored. At all.

"Kyouya, why don't you play with your alternate future self. I'll get started on dinner."

Seeing the grin on the teen's face, he knew that was the right call. He was still going to go after Shirou later though.

Reborn was watching the entire thing with shock...and glee. He was a chaos magnet, after all and this was chaos on a level he never thought he'd be able to top anytime soon.

But he'd be damned if he didn't give it a try when this was over with!

(In Shirou's universe, Tsuna shivered with apprehension. The shock of Hibari-san showing up was nothing compared to the feeling of absolute doom he knew was about to head his way when this was over.)

* * *

If having Shirou in place of Tsuna was confusing, it was nothing compared to a friendlier Hibari Kyouya.

And by friendly, one would have to mean the fact he wasn't threatening to bite everyone to death purely on principle. His alternate future self seemed to have gotten used to having him there, even if it meant his past self was sent to a different future.

"Okay, I'm going to say it. What the actual fuck? How the hell is Hibari sitting next to us and not trying to beat the crap out of us for crowding him?!" said Gokudera. He couldn't take this anymore.

Kyouya looked openly amused.

"Blame the damn sword. The agreement is I can't bite his friends to death unless I beat him first, and the damn blade cheats like crazy," said Kyouya, pointing without fail at Shirou.

"It's not my fault you took the fact I didn't back down when I went to fix the air conditioning in the reception room as a challenge, and then proceeded to come after me when I was heading back to the house once Taiga had calmed down," snorted Shirou without concern.

"The Tiger went ballistic the second she heard what happened, by the way."

"More like she's angry I won't feed her anytime in the next month at least," said Shirou.

"You owe me a weeks worth, or I will bite you," growled Kyouya.

"Yeah yeah. Same rules as always?"

"What the actual fuck," repeated Gokudera. "Ow! Dammit woman what the hell?"

"No swearing around Lambo, I-Pin and Reborn!" said Haru, holding her weapon in hand.

"To be fair, Reborn isn't actually a toddler but someone cursed to look like one. He's probably heard worse and even said stronger words when annoyed," said Shirou dryly.

"Seriously, I've never seen Hibari-san this calm before," said Takeshi, staring.

"I either beat him or force him into a draw and then I feed him."

"The idiot saturates his cooking with Sky flames and never even realized what he was doing," clarified Kyouya. He also looked slightly irritated, "And it was a pain in the ass to get him to agree to call me first before he charged into something that could get him killed. Damn Sword."

Reborn looked slightly curious as to the odd phrase.

"If he's a Sword then what are you?"

"His Shield," said Kyouya without hesitation. "This idiot has the worst habit of ignoring his own injuries if it means protecting others, to the point he'd gladly jump into fire if it meant saving someone. He needs Shields around him to keep that blade of his from being ruined, even if he's oblivious to the fact that damn near half the female population at the school is infatuated with him. Better him than me."


End file.
